Perfection Challenged
by Chaki Chaki 3
Summary: AU, NEJITEN. Neji was the perfect student with perfect grades and a perfectionist lifestyle. He was number one in his entire class, practically the school. No one could compare to him. That is, till that girl came along, and immediately came to his level.
1. Perfectionist

**Thank you for clicking on my story! Ok, so, this is a NejiTen story. If you hate it, leave. Once you're done, read and review!**

**This story sparked in my mind while I was writing The Double Date, which is still in progress, so you can go read that and review it please (it's also NejiTen, and also NaruHina)!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto!**

* * *

Konoha Private High School.

A school built by and for the elite. A school for the sons and daughters of ambassadors, governors, the most successful CEO's... The list went on and on. _"Cultivating talent and promoting intellect"_ was the motto of the school. There were students who attended the school, but didn't really try to keep up their grades, relying on the power and money of their families. But there were also the students who strived to reach perfection. The students who spent countless hours of their lives dedicated to studying.

But there was only one student who stood out most among everyone else.

Hyuga Neji was the perfect student with perfect grades and a perfectionist lifestyle. He was number one in his entire class, and the student in second place was nowhere near the perfection Neji had achieved, let alone held for all sixteen years of his life. No one could compare to him.

That is, until she came along.

"Good morning! My name is Hua Tenten. (1) I know I'm arriving late in the school year, but I hope we can all be friends," the girl politely stated, smiling lightly.

"Thank you, Tenten. Now...where will you sit?" The homeroom teacher, Iruka-sensei scanned the classroom and later said, "Ah, you can sit with Neji, since he doesn't have a desk partner."

Tenten bowed to the teacher and thanked him, and then made her way to the designated desk. Sitting down, she glanced at Neji and waved to him, whispering,

"Hi, I'm Tenten."

But Neji said nothing back, nor did he even glance back. It wasn't that he hadn't heard her, because he did. It was just that he didn't want to talk to her. Since the fifth grade, Neji had never had a desk partner, and he liked it that way. But unless this "Hua Tenten" mysteriously disappeared this instant, Neji now had himself a desk partner.

It was only her first day here. Neji knew that.

But he already disliked her.

For the entire morning, Neji completely blocked out the girl's existence. And when lunch hour rolled around, he immediately took his books and his bag and left to the library.

Tenten, who was confused by her desk partner's behavior, was now left to eat lunch by herself. Only five other students chose to remain in the classroom for lunch; everyone else had gone elsewhere. In the front of the class, Tenten spotted a girl eating alone. She stood up, taking her lunch, and carefully approached the other student, asking,

"Can I eat with you?"

Surprised, the other girl looked up at Tenten, stuttering, "Y-You want to eat w-with me?"

"Sure," Tenten replied, smiling. "May I?"

"O-of course..!" the girl squeaked, motioning to the seat beside her, which Tenten gladly took.

"I'm Hua Tenten, by the way."

"I'm Tanaka Akiko." (2)

"Do you usually eat alone, Akiko-san?" Tenten asked, hoping she wasn't being rude. Akiko quietly responded,

"Yes... But it's okay. I hardly know anyone here well, besides their names and family businesses."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore, Akiko-san," Tenten mused, grinning. "Oh, Akiko-san, can I ask you something? Oh, you can call me by my name only."

"Sure. Go ahead, Tenten," Akiko replied, starting to eat her lunch.

"What do you know about Neji?"

Unexpectedly, Akiko choked on her food, but quickly recovered. Coughing, she timidly asked, "W-why..?"

Tenten shrugged and answered, "He's weird."

Slightly taken aback at the other's blunt reply, Akiko lowered her voice as if the mentioned person were present and said, "Well, he doesn't really like people talking about him, but..."

Tenten nodded, letting Akiko continue.

"He's not really...friendly. I've known him since elementary school because our parents are close business partners, but he's been this way for as long as I can remember. He's a perfectionist, and well... Let's just say people would rather not talk to him..."

"Hm..." Tenten pondered on this information for a while, but put it aside to talk to Akiko about the school clubs.

* * *

When lunch was over, the two had become good friends, and they had even exchanged cell phone numbers. When Neji entered the classroom and silently sat at his desk, the two exchanged glances, grins playing on both of their faces, and Tenten returned to her desk before the bell rang. A few moments later, the English teacher, Kurenai-sensei, arrived and called for everyone's attention.

"Okay, everyone. You know what today is... Mid-term exams."

A majority of the class groaned, clearly not wanting to take a test on this Thursday afternoon. The teacher continued, "Remember, this grade will count for 20% of your mid-term grades. But Hua Tenten, I understand you've just transferred, so you can skip it."

"That's okay, Kurenai-sensei. I'll take the exam," Tenten politely said aloud, shocking some students, as well as the teacher.

"Are you sure..?" Kurenai-sensei asked, knowing she would have skipped the test if he were in her position. Tenten only smiled and replied,

"Yes, ma'am."

"All right then," Kurenai-sensei sighed, and began passing out the test papers.

Before he started his own test, Neji looked at Tenten, wondering how she hoped to pass this test.

_'She just got here. Who does she think she is to even attempt it?'_

Tenten looked up and caught Neji looking at her. When she gave him a smile, he deliberately turned to his own test and ignored her very existence. He had a perfect score to earn.

Twenty minutes into the testing period, Neji was done with all one hundred questions and the short response section, and he stood up to turn his test in. However, just as he stood up, someone else did as well.

Tenten.

Never, in his entire life, did anyone finish a test at the same time as him, and seeing it happen now was quite unsettling. When they gave their tests to Kurenai-sensei, Neji made sure his test touched the teacher's desk first, and that made him feel much better. And to add to that, he even quickened his pace by half a second so that he would be the first at his desk.

For the remainder of the class, Neji studied for his next exam, which was music composition-his chosen elective. Tenten wasted her time (as Neji put it) folding paper turtles.

As the bell rang for the next class, Neji gathered his belongings quickly and left the room faster than the teacher. Tenten took her time, and even gave one of her origami turtles to Akiko.

In the music room, Neji sat in a chair furthest away from the other students. But, of course, today was not a normal day. And so someone sat in the chair beside him, asking,

_"You're in this class, too?"_

Neji grudgingly met Tenten's gaze, thinking he should be the one asking that question. He was hoping that this would be the one class he wouldn't have to share with his "desk partner," but that was impossible now. The teacher, Anko-sensei stepped out of her office and called for the students' attention.

"Good afternoon, everyone! I know you're all eager to take the mid-term exam."

Every student except Neji and Tenten groaned, but the teacher went on.

"Unfortunately, the copier machine in the teacher's lounge short-circuited from some spilled coffee. So your test is postponed until tomorrow."

Many students quietly rejoiced, but Neji was quite dejected.

He had studied for this test. He was prepared to earn perfect scores again. He gave up three hours of sleep the previous night to study for this particular test.

But all of that was put to waste because of some idiot teacher who spilled coffee on the copier machine.

"So what are we doing now, Anko-sensei?" a student asked. Anko-sensei tapped her chin thoughtfully and said,

"Well, I guess you all have a free period. I didn't plan anything else except for the test."

Once again, the students cheered-with the exception of Neji, of course. Sighing heavily, he pulled out his notes on ancient Japanese history, since that exam was on Friday as well, due to their teacher's procrastination to actually make their test. As he reviewed the events of the Yayoi Period, he felt that he couldn't completely focus. It didn't take long for him to realize the girl beside him was also scanning the notes in his hands. Quickly annoyed by the invasion of personal space, Neji half-heartedly asked,

"Can I help you?"

Tenten looked up at the irritated boy and said, with no malice what-so-ever,

"Oh. You spelled a word incorrectly."

Neji glared at the innocent girl, refusing to believe she was right. He was Hyuga Neji. He didn't make mistakes. Ever.

So who was this girl to say Neji had spelled something incorrectly?

"Excuse me?" Neji dully replied, his eyes narrowing at Tenten.

"Right here," she said, pointing to a word on Neji's notes.

Neji silently took note that he would have to burn that specific sheet of paper and rewrite everything later.

Tenten continued as she giggled, "You accidentally wrote 'cow' instead of 'noon.' It's not that big a deal. You just forgot to make the stroke shorter."

Neji released a breath he wasn't aware he was holding and looked at his paper.

He did, in fact, spell the word wrong.

Hastily adding the "misplaced" (he refused to admit it was forgotten) stroke, Neji glared at Tenten and asked through gritted teeth,

"Is that better?"

"Mmhm," Tenten hummed, smiling in satisfaction, and turned to continue reading volume twenty six of _Bleach_. Neji glowered at her for a few more moments before returning to his notes, triple-checking to make sure he hadn't spelled anything else wrong.

By the time class was over Neji had gotten all the way to Korea's independence from Japan, while Tenten had managed to finish volume thirty of the popular manga.

Gathering his belongings, Neji rolled his eyes at Tenten, who was taking her sweet time to pack up, and swiftly left the room, ready to have some time away from her.

Even if it was only for three minutes.

* * *

**(1) Ok. I didn't know what surname I could use for Tenten, and there wasn't any Japanese surnames that would sound good. Also, I figured it would be nice if Tenten is Chinese! Since this is an AU and all… So that's were "Hua" comes in. Hua is the name of Mulan, Hua Mulan, who all now from the Disney movie she was a magnificent female who disguised herself as a soldier and stuff and saved China, but in the actual Chinese folktale, not Fa. Well, Tenten isn't going to parallel Mulan in this story. I just thought it seemed to fit.**

**(2) I was debating on whom to make this character be. At first, I was thinking Hinata, but let's say she's in a grade lower anyway. So this is my OC.**

**Review please!**

**Chaki~  
**


	2. Physical

**Wow... Well! Chapter 2 is up already!**

* * *

Neji wasn't surprised when he saw Tenten walking down to the track behind the school during their next class, which was physical education. For their mid-term exam, they were just running 1.5 km on the track, which was no challenge for Tenten at all.

Halfway through, Neji was fifteen meters ahead of every other student, and he had hardly broken a sweat. Just as he was about to take on a third lap, a blur sped past him, which Neji recognized as Hua Tenten.

"What the...?" was all that came out of Neji's mouth before he immediately broke out into a sprint, quickly regaining distance that was never lost in the first place. But as soon as he passed Tenten, she quickened her pace, passing him once more. The cycle repeated endlessly, and the two had soon overlapped the other students.

Twice.

It was the last lap, and both were giving everything they had. By now, the only reason they were still able to run was because of their sheer will. Five meters from the finish line, they lengthened their strides, practically shoulder-to-shoulder, fighting for the inside of the track.

And just like that, their 1.5 km race was over.

They both slowed to a jog, and then walked off the track, catching their breath. Between pants, Tenten looked at Neji and said,

"Wow... You're really good...you know?"

Exhausted himself, Neji only glanced at the girl next to him. As she sat on the ground to stretch out her legs, Neji wondered how such a small girl could have kept up with him. He, himself, was 185 cm tall, so his speed was reasonable.

But her speed was just insane.

"Asuma-sensei," Neji called, turning to their P.E. instructor. "What was my time?"

The coach, Asuma-sensei, looked at his stopwatch, then back to Neji, saying, "Three minutes, twenty-eight seconds."

_'A new school record,'_ Neji congratulated himself, then asked aloud, nodding towards Tenten, "And hers?"

"Same," the coach simply replied.

"What?" Neji yelled, forgetting about his current fatigue. "Are you sure?"

The coach nodded, smiling happily and answered, "Absolutely. You crossed the line at the same time. I'm proud of you two."

Neji bit his lip and turned to glare at Tenten, but she wasn't there. Confused, Neji looked at the track and spotted her jogging next to another student.

"What is she doing?" he asked himself, frowning a little.

"Tenten-san, you don't have to run with me... You must be exhausted. You really should rest," Akiko urged, knowing Tenten probably thought she was too slow. But Tenten kept jogging at her side, encouraging her,

"It's okay. I have loads of energy!"

"That you do," Akiko laughed, suddenly feeling she could finish the remainder of this exam.

Akiko managed to achieve a new personal record of eight minutes and thirty-five seconds, thanking Tenten for helping her do so. Tenten shook her head and said, "No, no! You did it all on your own!"

Tenten was unaware, however, of the glare pointed at her by none other than Hyuga Neji.

_ 'She thinks she's all that... Well, she's not. She's annoying, she's stupid, and she smiles too much.'_

Neji's thoughts were cut short when Asuma told the class they would be playing a game of soccer for the rest of the class. After the teams were divided by last name, Neji walked up to the center of the field, since no one else wanted to take charge of the kick-off. Neji was about to consider going easy on the other team, but immediately destroyed the thought when Tenten also came to the center-field-smiling. The coach felt a strange vibe rising in the atmosphere, and he glanced between the two students before asking,

"Heads or t-?"

"Heads," Neji cut the coach off, not moving his glare from Tenten.

"All right," Asuma-sensei lazily replied, "Tenten, you're tails."

He flipped the coin and caught it with ease, telling the two,

"Tails. The game starts on your mark, Tenten."

Neji narrowed his gaze even more, and the already-cold winter air suddenly took a dive in the temperature. Tenten took the ball under the sole of her right foot and kicked it up a few centimeters, bouncing it on the top of her shoe, and not once did she take her eyes off her opponent. Suddenly, she kicked the ball up in the air and made a roundhouse kick with her left foot, sending it to the other end of the field, barely missing Neji's ear. But Neji didn't flinch, and Tenten just continued smiling at him.

But it wasn't a friendly smile.

It seemed that in no time, Tenten had caught up to where the ball landed, and was now dribbling it towards the goal. Neji was close behind, and he was about to steal when Tenten made a smooth backpass to Akiko, who was surprised when the ball made contact with her foot. Feeling all eyes on her, Akiko clumsily dribbled the ball downfield, trying to avoid oncoming players from the other team. When two of them were about to close in on her, a voice rang loudly,

"Akiko, pass it to me!"

Akiko scanned the field and found Tenten waving her arms around. But she was on the other side of the field, so how could she possibly make the pass?

As if reading her mind, Tenten yelled, "It's all right! Just trust me!"

A student on the other team slid on the ground in an attempt to take the ball, but Akiko hastily kicked it away, hoping it would reach Tenten. Luckily, the ball was heading towards her, but a gust of wind suddenly swept the ball up in mid-air-going straight to Neji.

Neji jumped up to trap the ball, but out of nowhere, Tenten came cart-wheeling by, tapping the ball and trapping it with her other foot, landing on her feet with the utmost grace. In one swift motion, she kicked the ball to a student named Nara Shikamaru and yelled,

"Shikamaru, take the shot!"

Noticing there was a game going on, Shikamaru looked down to find the soccer ball at his feet, and lazily tapped it, making it roll ever-so-slightly into the goal post. Tenten clapped, giving the aloof boy a thumbs up, and then went to Akiko, complimenting her on what a good pass she had made.

Neji, however, was furious. He stomped over to the goalkeeper by the name of Rock Lee, and shouted,

"What the heck was that? He was standing _right there_, and you didn't even try to stop him!"

"I'm sorry! I have failed you!" Lee apologized, wincing at the other's tone. But Neji would have none of it.

"If you were really sorry, you would've stopped that idiot excuse of a student from making such a pathetic shot that managed to get _past_ you!"

"It's just a game..." Lee whispered, immediately regretting it.

"This is not just a game!" Neji quickly spat, then turned around, heading back to the center-field.

By the end of the class, Tenten's team had scored seven goals with their teamwork-administered by herself, of course-and Neji's team had decided to give up long ago. They had let their "leader" go into a fit of insanity and just watched him run around by himself in an attempt to steal the soccer ball as if all his pride were in it.

Neji was frustrated. He was annoyed. He was angry. He was confused.

How could all his hard work be put to waste in one day? He was the best. He had _always _been the best.

So what if no one wanted to be his friend? They'd all be kissing his feet when he was at the top of the world in the future anyway.

So what if he'd only been getting three hours of sleep since the sixth grade? He still got perfect scores.

Everything was perfect until Hua Tenten showed up. He was the smartest student in the entire school until she came along, proving she was equal to Neji in everything. For so long, Neji was the only student in his school to have straight, perfect scores in every class. For so long, everyone paled in comparison to Hyuga Neji. For so long, Neji had been at the top of the mountain, but now he had to share it with someone else.

Tenten didn't take away Neji's pride.

She took away his identity.

* * *

**What a sad ending... I'm starting to feel bad for Neji-kun now...**

**Anyway! Please review! Thank you! And read my other story, The Double Date.**

**Chaki~**


	3. Joining Together

**Hey ya'lllllll!**

**I enjoy people reading my story, it makes me super happy! (that sounds a little Ni Hao Kai Lan right there...) Anyway, thank you for reading my story. But reviews are appreciated too. For some reason, this story is a little bit easier to write than The Double Date. Hehehe... AH. I haven't even started writing the next chapter!**

**Thanks for reading! I also don't own Naruto!**

* * *

Math: Neji's best subject-besides every other subject, of course. He would not fail this time. He would not lose. Not to Hua Tenten.

Never.

As soon as he received his test, Neji immediately began solving the problems with ease. Every theorem and postulate known to man flashed in his mind, and Neji made sure his handwriting was still neat, despite the speed at which he was working. After twenty-five minutes, he had completed the exam, and all he had to do was double-check his work. Once satisfied, Neji looked at Tenten, who was sitting back in her seat, twirling her pencil between her thin fingers. Proudly, he stood up to turn in his test.

But so did Tenten.

Neji was frozen in place, completely flummoxed. Had she already finished her test? Was that why she was just relaxing, staring off into space? Without realizing it, Tenten had already turned in her exam to the teacher, and Neji just stood there stupidly.

_"Neji?"_

With all the resent in him, Neji scornfully glared at Tenten, who was innocently looking at him. Not wanting to show that he was embarrassed, he silently made his way to the teacher's desk, having half a mind to _not_ slam his test down. Calmly, he returned to his own desk and pulled out his notes on Physics. He appeared to be tranquil, but he was burning with humiliation on the inside. He couldn't even focus on his notes as he spent his time wondering how on Earth someone was able to beat him.

Before he knew it, the last class of the day was over, and everyone was excitedly heading home. Quickly packing his belongings, Neji left the room without so much as a second glance at Tenten.

Blinking once, Tenten gathered her things and walked to Akiko, asking with a hint of annoyance, "Does Neji really hate people that much?"

Akiko giggled quietly and replied, "He's just in a hurry to get to Student Council."

"There's a Student Council at this school?" Tenten tilted her head in confusion.

"Yeah. You wouldn't think a bunch of rich kids like us would need one, but we have one."

"Hm... Sounds cool. How can I join?"

"Er..." Akiko hesitated. "You'll have to get approval from Neji."

"Oh? Is he the president?" Tenten asked. Akiko blinked slowly and answered,

"He's the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, historian, and the body of the Student Council."

Eyes wide in shock, Tenten asked in disbelief, "He makes up the entire Student Council?"

"Mmhm. The seniors from last year have graduated, and Neji kind of...made everyone else quit," Akiko murmured, remembering the past events. Tenten prodded on,

"What did he do?"

Akiko cautiously looked around her, making sure Neji wasn't around and replied softly, "He's got a sour tongue. He's not too strong physically, but mentally...he can tear someone's ego down to nothing with his insults. He points out every single little thing that's slightly wrong, and he never hesitates to say it to someone's face."

"Huh..." Tenten thought about the topic for a while before bidding Akiko goodbye and leaving the room.

* * *

In a classroom filled with empty desks, Neji sat at the teacher's desk, organizing the budget for the end-of-the-year class trip to Europe. Tapping his pencil against his cheek, Neji focused on the papers in front of him, mumbling to himself,

"Each student is paying three million yen for the plane ride, so we have 178,850,000 yen to take care of... If I can get Lee Corporations to donate 10,000,000 yen, that takes care of 5.59% of the cost. Hm... I can get 25,000,000 yen donated by Aburame Banking Industries, and that covers 5.92% of the remaining expenses..."

His calculations were interrupted when he heard a soft knock on the door. Looking towards the entrance, he made eye-contact with the last person he wanted to see.

"What do you want?" Neji brusquely asked, returning to his previous work.

"I'd like to join Student Council."

"Request denied," Neji flatly stated, not once taking his eyes of the papers before him. Irritated, Tenten walked in front of the other's desk and pulled out the Student Handbook from her bag, dropping it on top of Neji's work. She flipped it to page thirty-seven and read aloud,

"Rule number fifty-eight of the Student Handbook, section I: Any student who wishes to join a school organization may do so as long as they are passing all courses."

Neji turned the book around so Tenten could read it and countered,

"Rule number fifty-eight, continued, section III: Members of the organization are chosen at the discretion of the president of the said organization."

As if expecting that, Tenten turned the handbook back around and flipped to page thirty-eight, confidently stating,

"Rule number fifty-eight, continued, section VI, article B: The word of the principal overrides that of the faculty _and_ the students."

Immediately after, she pulled a piece of notebook paper out from her school bag and set it on the Student Handbook. Refusing to touch it, Neji read the letter.

_"Hua Tenten will join Student Council. Don't try to argue with me about this. _

_-Principal Tsunade."_

Glaring at the simple piece of paper, Neji released a long, silent breath and mumbled,

"...Fine."

Smiling, Tenten took the letter and the handbook back, placing them in her bag and asked, "So what are you doing?"

Bitterly, Neji said to her, "Nothing that concerns you."

Frowning now, Tenten replied, "I'm part of the Student Council now. I deserve to do some of the work."

Just wanting to get rid of the other, Neji took a box of unsharpened pencils from his bag and tossed it to Tenten, telling her,

"Go sharpen all those pencils."

"Why?" Tenten asked, annoyed that the other didn't even look at her as he answered,

"Because I'm the president, and I said so. So go. Now."

After glaring at Neji for a good twenty seconds, Tenten grabbed the trash can and set it beside a desk which she sat in, and began to sharpen each pencil with her handheld sharpener, mumbling something that sounded a lot like, _"Stupid jerk..."_

For three and a half hours, Neji kept Tenten busy by having her sharpen pencils, take out the trash from all the classes in the hallway, sweep the classroom floor, clean the windows, and re-sharpen the pencils he had "accidentally" broken. Tenten had finished sharpening the two hundred forty-second and _final_ pencil (she decided to count them) when she looked outside the spotless window she had shined three times earlier, and realized there was no more sunlight. The sky was pitch black, and the city lights were softly luminescent in the landscape. Glancing at Neji, she saw that he was still immersed in his paperwork, his left hand working with a calculator while he wrote with his right. Propping her head up on the palm of her hand, Tenten asked,

"What time do you usually go home?"

Without moving his eyes from his work, Neji sourly replied, "If you want to go home, then go home. It's not like I want you to be here."

"Fine." Tenten sat back in her chair. "I'll stay until you go home."

"Won't your parents worry?" Neji asked, not really caring.

"Won't yours?" Tenten shot back, earning herself a glare from the other. "Besides, I sent them a text message while I was taking out the trash from the classroom next door."

Neji glared at her for a short moment before going back to his assignment. With a silent sigh, Tententook out her music composition textbook and began to read it from the very beginning.

An hour later, Neji noticed Tenten's head was bobbing up and down, her eyes opening and closing in an unsteady rhythm. He dismissed the girl soon after and returned to how he would get the funds for the class trip. Another hour had passed when Neji decided he had accomplished enough for the night.

It wasn't until he had put away all his papers into his school bag when he noticed Tenten was asleep, using her textbook for a pillow. He honestly considered leaving the girl in the empty building, but it would be too obvious that he would have been responsible if anything happened to her. Plus, he would never hear the end of it from his parents. Making his decision, Neji slammed his hand on the desk, and Tenten woke up with a start, frantically looking around.

Without a word, Neji left the room with Tenten close behind. Once outside the school gates, Neji expected Tenten to go right while he went left, but she took the same path as him. Too tired to turn around, he asked,

"Why are you following me?"

"I'm not following you," Tenten replied with a bite. "This is the way to my house."

Neji rolled his eyes and kept walking, hoping to get rid of her soon. But with every turn he took, Tenten always turned the same way. The next twenty minutes were filled with the same words being thrown at each other.

"Quit following me!"

"I'm not following you!"

"Are you stalking me?"

"Who would want to stalk you?"

"I don't know! Maybe a psychotic freak?"

"Only a self-righteous, immature person with an overgrown ego would accuse an innocent person of stalking them!"

Neji was stomping on the driveway of his house when he realized Tenten wasn't following him anymore. But when he saw where she was headed, he looked up at the sky and yelled in frustration,

"You have _got_ to be kidding me!"

"It's not like I like it either!" Tenten shouted from her own home, slamming the front door behind her. Overwhelmed with vexation, Neji banged his head against his front door three times before it opened, revealing a small girl of the age of around nine who exclaimed,

"Oh, Neji! You're home!"

"Hi, Hanabi..." Neji mumbled, looking down at his younger cousin, as he was practically 3 feet taller than her. His cousin continued, smiling,

"I'm glad you're here now. Father invited our new neighbors over for dinner."

Neji grimaced, feeling a presence behind him. He saw his uncle and his other older cousin, Hinata, come to the door.

"Welcome back, Neji-nii-san," Hinata politely said.

"Oh, they're here. Neji, this is Mr. and Mrs. Hua and their daughter Tenten. Don't you two go to the same school?"

"Yes, sir." Neji mentally cringed at the familiar voice, which sounded much sweeter than he remembered.

"We even have all the same classes," Tenten continued, smiling politely.

"That's wonderful. Being with Neji must be a hard time! Why don't you all come inside?" Hyuga Hiashi ushered the Hua family into her home and proceeded to talk to Tenten's parents.

Behind their backs, Neji and Tenten were glaring at each other, both thinking the same thing.

Neither of them wanted to be there.

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**You like my smart brain and all? I did all that algebra Neji was doing...! I know the chapters aren't long, but I want to keep the word count around 1,700-2,100 or so.  
**

**Please review!**

**EDIT: Wow... I fixed some stuff here and there... thank you hello185 for pointing out my mistake! I went back and read it and found more...  
**

**Chaki~**


	4. Fatty

**Whoop whoop! Next chapter! BTW. I'd be happy if you reviewed my story please! Thank you:**

**Love is Only a Word**

**hello185**

**SasoriSweet19**

**DarkAnonymous324**

**mermaidella**

**Angie-mia**

**for reviewing.****  
**

* * *

At the dinner table, Neji's uncle sat beside Tenten's mother, who sat across from her own husband. Beside her father and Neji's cousin Hanabi, Tenten sat across the table from Neji, who was next to Hinata-which neither of them wanted, but Hiashi was very insistent. Food from all over the world was brought into the dining room by well-dressed butlers, and everything tasted as good as it looked. Although the Normandy vegetable soup (1) was delicious, Tenten still preferred the cuisine of her native country, China. And right now, as their parents were busy chatting, Hinata was quietly texting her friend, and Hanabi was trying to start a conversation with Tenten, but she and Neji were glaring at each other, vying for the last piece of tonkatsu. (2)

It was as if everything else had disappeared, and all that mattered was the food between the two teenagers. Quickly, Neji swept his chopsticks at the tonkatsu, but Tenten knocked it out of his hold, making it fall back to the plate. Responding swiftly, Tenten picked up the food, but before she could eat it, Neji snatched it away with his own chopsticks and ate it in satisfaction, smirking smugly at the irritated girl.

"Oh, Tenten, would you like some more tonkatsu?" Hiashi kindly asked, and he went ahead and waved her hand in the air. Soon after, a chef came out with a platter full of freshly cooked tonkatsu. Once it was set down in front of her, Tenten smiled politely to Hiashi and said,

"Thank you very much, Hyuga-san," she replied with a feminist smile.

Hiashi smiled and nodded his head as he waved his hand dismissively. "I wouldn't want you to miss out on it."

Hiashi returned to her conversation with Tenten's parents, and Hanabi was trying to talk to Tenten about the new Harry Potter movie that had come out. Tenten smiled at Neji and immediately started to eat the heavenly tonkatsu. Neji glared at her and mumbled softly enough so that only Tenten could hear,

"Fatty."

With an expressionless face, Tenten stomped on the other's foot under the table without mercy, and Neji bent over in pain, his head hitting the table loudly. Surprised, the parents and the other two cousins looked over at the cringing teenager, and Hiashi asked, "Neji, is something wrong..?"

"No, Uncle." Neji sat up straight, taking a deep breath, and continued with a tight-lipped smile, "I'm perfectly fine."

"Neji-nii-san, shall I get an ice pack?" Hinata asked timidly.

Neji jerked his in a "no" motion, not taking his eyes off of Tenten

"All right then... Oh, Tenten, are you finished eating?"

"Yes, sir," Tenten courteously replied. Neji stared at the now-empty platter without a trace of sauce or even a grain of rice. Hiashi went on,

"Oh, in that case, Neji, Hinata, Hanabi, why don't you show Tenten around the house?"

His nephew blinked once before flatly answering, "She probably doesn't want to. It's not like she'll be here on a regular basis."

"It's common courtesy," Hiashi urged, retaining her calm smile, but Neji just replied,

"Our house isn't that interesting."

"Aw, Neji-nii-san! Don't be like that!" Hanabi whined. "I'm pretty sure she'll love to see our movie room!"

"Movie room?" Tenten piped up curiously.

"Neji," his uncle said firmly.

"Yes, Uncle..." Neji mumbled. He stood up and motioned for Tenten to follow. Tenten bowed to Hiashi, thanking him for dinner and followed the set of Hyugas out of the kitchen.

All four of them were aimlessly wandering about the corridors, and Neji didn't say a word to Tenten- not that she was complaining. It was Hanabi that did most of the chattering. She talked about every room, telling her about all her memories in each room. Frankly, Tenten became close friends with Hinata, who was also in their school, but in a lower grade. Eventually, the loquacious little one had exclaimed out loud, "I need to pee!" and Hinata went back to her room to do her homework. The tour continued on Walking down a hallway, Tenten noticed a couple of pictures hung up on the wall. Slowing her speed, she moved closer to the wall to better observe a specific portrait.

Neji was about to turn a corner when a sudden burst of laughter startled him. Spinning around, he saw Tenten looking at a picture on the wall, holding her sides in laughter. Confused, he approached the girl and looked at the photo in horror.

It was a picture of him when he was four years old, hugging a teddy bear twice his size.

Neji felt his face turn red when Tenten asked, still laughing, "Is that you? You were so cute!"

"S-Shut up..!" Neji lamely shot back, putting a hand over Tenten's eyes so that she couldn't see his four-year old self. Tenten continued to laugh and took the other's hand off with her own, but when the two made eye contact, they fell into complete silence. The made no movements and just stared at each other, their gazes locked in place.

After what felt like an hour, Neji coughed softly and looked to the side. Tenten also looked away, releasing the other's hand. Clearing his throat twice, Neji quietly suggested, "Should...should we go back to the dining table?"

"Sure..." Tenten distractedly replied, nodding slowly. Hanabi had come back from her bathroom break, and they followed Neji led the way back to the kitchen, all the while trying to avoid the thought of how soft the other's hands felt. In the back of his mind, he wondered what she was thinking behind those light brown eyes that were staring back at his own.

Reaching the kitchen, Neji forced his thoughts away and cleared his throat, letting the adults know they were present. Hiashi looked at his nephew curiously and asked, "Oh, you're done already?"

"Yes," Neji replied. "Besides, Hiashi-sama, it's a school night."

"Oh, that's right," Hiashi realized. "It _is_ pretty late..."

"Thank you very much for inviting us over," Tenten's mother said to Hiashi, smiling.

A few minutes later, Tenten was in her own room, studying for her music composition test the next day. In the middle of reading about Picardy thirds, Tenten suddenly dropped her head on her desk.

"What is wrong with me?" she yelled out loud.

Her heart was beating a million kilometers a second, and she had no idea why.

* * *

The next morning, Tenten trudged into class, mumbling a "Good morning" to Akiko and sat at her desk, staring at nothing in particular. Akiko looked at her friend with deep concern, and was surprised when the classroom door swung open, revealing a haggard-looking Neji. He dragged his body to his desk, looking just as sleep-deprived as his desk partner.

A couple minutes later, the homeroom teacher, Iruka-sensei, stepped into the class, calling attendance. Tenten almost didn't hear her name being called, but she forced herself awake just in time. The entire day passed in a daze, but that didn't stop Neji and Tenten from being the first ones to complete the Japanese History mid-term. (Their papers had touched the teacher's desk at the same exact time.) Ever-so-slowly, lunch hour came around, and Neji and Tenten glared at each other with tired eyes before the former stormed off to the library. Sighing, Tenten set her head down on her desk just as Akiko took Neji's seat, asking,

"Did something happen..?"

"What do you mean?" Tenten sleepily asked back.

"You, of course," Akiko said in a condescending tone. "You keep falling asleep, and you're starting to get panda eyes."

"Oh, that..." Tenten waved a nonchalant hand and yawned. "_He_… I was up 'til three studying for the history test. And the music composition test." (3)

"You didn't have to study that long. You would've done fine had you gotten a decent amount of sleep."

Tenten laughed softly and replied, "I can't lose to Neji, though."

"But why?" Akiko wondered. "All you're doing is picking fights with him and losing sleep at the same time. Not only that, but lack of sleep can have major repercussions later on in life."

Tenten began to laugh wholeheartedly, never knowing Akiko had such a side to her personality. At first glance, she was a girl too shy for her own good who only spoke when spoken to. But now, here that same girl was, giving Tenten a lecture on not getting enough sleep. Regaining her composure, Tenten took out her lunch from her school bag and exclaimed, "Let's eat! _Itadakimasu!"_

Akiko suddenly snatched away Tenten's lunch and reprimanded, "No lunch until you promise not to stay up after midnight!"

"That's way too early! Change it to 4:00 a.m.!" Tenten whined, earning herself a flick in the forehead.

"One o'clock."

"Three o'clock!"

"Two o'clock!"

"Two thirty..! Please, Aki…chan!" Tenten stuttered. She was practically begging now, her hands in a prayer position and her head bowing slightly. Akiko sighed, falling victim to the other's use of a cute sounding nickname and mumbled,

"Fine, fine..."

The two girls giggled and proceeded to eat their lunches, talking about a student named Uzumaki Naruto who had pulled his latest prank in putting Shizune's (the assistant principal) on top of the school roof.

Eventually, lunch was over and English class had begun. The teacher, Kurenai-sensei, explained a new set of words to learn, and Tenten was diligently taking notes, re-energized from a delicious lunch. Her desk partner, however, was falling asleep every three minutes, and it seemed that any moment now he would fall out of his chair.

Before anyone knew it, the bell had rung, and everyone scattered to their next class. Tenten was about to leave when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Neji still in his seat, his chin resting on his chest and his body unmoving. For a brief moment, Tenten actually thought he had died, but a faint snoring proved that wrong. As much as she wanted to leave him, she remembered the previous night when he had bothered to wake her after school. So with a heavy sigh, Tenten shook Neji's shoulder and said,

"Hey, wake up!"

Immediately, Neji woke up with a start and looked at his Rolex watch, rushing to gather his things. He practically sped out of the classroom, not even bothering to say 'thank you' or even glance at Tenten. Sighing once more, Tenten began to leave but stopped again to pick up the Literature notes the frantic boy had dropped.

Finally, Tenten made her way to her next class.

* * *

**(1) Normandy is French…. Just FYI.**

**(2) Tonkatsu are Tender fillets are lightly battered then coated in ponko breadcrumb and friend crisp.**

**(3) He… is a Chinese spoken exclamative word for yawning.**

**I'm sorry Akiko is changing a bit abruptly… and I'm sorry if the POVs keep switching…. Sometime, I wonder if people accept Akiko as an OC. I know I often don't like reading OC x Some character stories. Right now, I'm in no plan in what's going to happen. I'm just letting the ideas flow.**

**Did you love that NejiTen moment there? Review please! And read and review my other stories: Encounters (one-shot)and The Double Date (still in progress).  
**

**Chaki~  
**


	5. Take My Notes!

**Thank you so much for reading! Please remember to review! I'm sorry, I'm going to work on The Double Date after this... so I don;t know when the next chapter for this will come out!  
**

* * *

Luckily, Tenten had made it to class on time, and she walked up to Neji to return his forgotten notes. However, Neji noticed she was approaching him and stood up, moving to a seat on the other end of the room. Glaring at the rude boy, Tenten mumbled under her breath,

_"Fine. No notes for you. See if I care."_

As soon as the bell had rung for class to begin, Anko came skipping out of her office with a stack of papers in her arms and sang, "Good news, everyone! Principal Tsunade had a wonderful, state-of-the-art copier machine imported from America last night, and I have your tests ready!"

A couple students groaned, and Tenten and Neji glared at each other from opposite sides of the room. Anyone in the crossfire suddenly felt the temperature drop to sub-zero, and a heavy atmosphere hung above their heads. Once all the tests were passed out, everyone was permitted to begin working. Two particular students raced through the test with careful precision at the same time, putting all of their late-night studying to use.

Fifteen minutes later, the two students had finished double-checking their answers and were now racing to reach the teacher's desk. A single '_thud'_ resounded though the room as Neji and Tenten had simultaneously put their tests on Anko's desk-a baby grand _K. Kawai_ piano. Anko was sleeping, but when she realized the students' presence, she gave a tired smiled and mused,

"Ya done now? Gee, that was fast."

But as the two students returned to their seats, they were both thinking,

_"Not fast enough."_

For the remainder of the class, Neji read his math textbook and took notes while Tenten busied herself by folding paper stars. When the bell finally rang, Tenten decided to be the first one out of class, just to annoy a certain student. Neji noticed this and rushed to the door as well, but even his long legs couldn't help because Tenten was closer to the door to begin with. Determined to beat the other, Neji sprinted down the hallway, but Tenten picked up her own speed and pulled further away. It was their 1.5 km race all over again. Except this time, the two had to maneuver around a sea of students, most of them just standing around and chatting with each other.

Neji and Tenten barged into their respective locker rooms at the same time, and once more when they came running out, racing to get to the track outside. Neji had opened the gate first, but since Tenten was significantly smaller, she was able to slip past him and step onto the track first. Tente smiled in satisfaction while Neji glared at her and moved to the opposite end of the field.

Three minutes later, Akiko had arrived and Tenten waved to her happily. With a grin and raised eyebrows, Akiko approached Tenten and said,

"You seem very lively, unlike that walking zombie over there."

Akiko pointed to Neji, who was brooding in a corner by himself, and Tenten stifled her laughter.

"He's mad because I beat him here."

"That's nice," Akiko commented quickly. Her face brightened as she changed the subject. "Hey, did you hear? Yamanaka Ino from class 2-B got has new haircut."

"What's so interesting about that?" Tenten asked, raising an eyebrow. Akiko scoffed and replied,

"She changes her hair every month. I'm surprised she hasn't gone bald yet!"

Tenten rolled her eyes playfully and said, "You really like to keep up with everything that goes on here, don't you?"

"Well, of course," Akiko answered, tilting her chin up slightly. "I'm going to be a famous journalist one day."

"Really?" Tenten asked, intrigued. The other girl grinned and replied,

"Yep! My dad is the CEO of the Tanaka Publishing Firm, and I'm already helping him edit articles for newspapers."

The two girls continued chatting, passing a soccer ball back and forth. (Asuma didn't care what they were doing as long as they were doing something.) Neji, not having any friends, decided to run around the track. Sometime in the middle of class, Akiko kicked the ball too far, and it had rolled onto the track-nearly tripping Neji. With a sharp glare aimed toward the two girls, Neji kicked the ball to Tenten, who easily caught it, and continued running. In a strained voice, Akiko whispered to Tenten,

"He's so scary..!"

"Psh. There's nothing to be afraid of," Tenten plainly replied, glaring at Neji from the corner of her eye. Akiko gave Tenten an exasperated look.

"Easy for you to say! You're the only one in this school that's ever stood up to him."

Tenten raised an eyebrow in doubt, and flatly asked, "Really?"

"...Well, no," Akiko admitted. "But you're the only one that isn't scared of him."

"You make it sound like he's a demon monster," Tenten teased.

"Oh, like you don't think the same thing!" the other shot back playfully. Tenten laughed quietly and replied,

"Well, I'd be lying if I said he wasn't a jerk."

They both giggled and resumed their conversation about Akimichi Choji, who had managed to break into the vending machine, and stole all of junk food there. Principal Tsunade was not happy. The rest of the period passed without further incident, and soon everyone was heading to the locker rooms. Neji rushed to and from the locker rooms, putting his uniform jacket on in the hallway as he ran to class. Catching his breath, Neji went to his desk, smirking in accomplishment and sat down, waiting for Tenten to show her sorry face.

But when Tenten arrived, she was animatedly talking with Akiko, and she slowly walked to her seat. Out of the corner of his eye, Neji glared at the calm girl next to him, a million thoughts running through his mind.

_Why didn't she run to class, too? Why was she so slow? Did she even try? Was Neji not enough of a challenge? Was he not worth the effort?_

Looking at the angry boy next to her, Tenten smiled and waved.

_Was she mocking him? _

Neji was about to say something to her when the math teacher, Kakashi, entered the room, rather late, (adding a "Yo," as a greeting.) immediately beginning the day's lesson. Everyone began taking notes soon after, including Neji, even though he had already taken notes from reading the textbook. The class went on quickly, just like all the previous classes, and once again, Neji sped to the Student Council room. A few moments after he had settled himself at the teacher's desk, Tenten came into the room, leaning forward on the desk and asked,

"When do I start doing real work?"

"When I feel like giving it to you," Neji stiffly replied, turning his attention to the scattered papers on the desk. Slamming a hand down on top of his papers, Tenten raised her voice to match her rising annoyance.

"Look! I don't know what your problem is, but I did not join this organization to just sit around here. Give me some real work. I dare you! Unless you're too much of a child to be this selfish."

Neji was getting fed up with her attitude, so he stood up, looking down at the shorter girl and said in controlled anger,

"Fine. You want work? Find some way to gather enough money for 50% of the remaining expenses of the class trip. Do you think you can do that?"

"I _know_ I can," Tenten replied, grinning. Handing the other a copy of the current budget, Neji added,

"And you can't use any of your own family's finances."

"Fine with me. As long as you don't use any of your own family's money."

"Is that a challenge?" Neji asked, glaring at Tenten, who smiled and answered,

"Why not? Let's each gather money for half the remaining expenses by Monday."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Neji put all his papers back in his school bag and said in a business-like fashion,

"Well, if that is all, then this meeting is over."

lalalalaalaa

The two were walking home when a rush of cold air suddenly passed by, making Tenten stuff her hands into her jacket pockets to keep warm. Hearing a crumpling noise, Tenten curiously pulled out the notes that Neji had dropped after English class. Because its current state bothered Tenten, she straightened out the paper, smoothing out the crinkles. She was about to re-fold it when she thought she saw her name written in the margin.

"What the..?" Tenten whispered, looking closer at the paper. Having heard her, Neji turned around and looked at her, asking,

"What's that?"

After a moment of silence, Tenten quietly replied, "...Notes."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"...Literature," Tenten managed to say, her voice growing smaller by the moment.

Neji squinted at the paper, looking at the notes written on the back and suddenly pointed at the paper in realization.

"That's my paper!"

"No, it's not..!" Tenten squeaked, hiding the paper behind her back.

"Yes, it is! That's my handwriting!" Neji yelled, reaching for the paper. Tenten stepped away from him and stuttered,

"I-It's not yours! Jeez..!"

"Yeah?" Neji made a move for the paper, but Tenten avoided him again. "Then whose are they?"

"R-Rock Lee!" she answered, desperate at this point. But Neji didn't buy it.

"He was asleep for the whole class!"

The two stood in complete silence for nearly an entire minute. And suddenly, Tenten sprinted away from Neji, who immediately ran after her, yelling, "Give it to me now!"

"Never!" Tenten screamed back, her voice resounding throughout the whole neighborhood. They were in a full-speed chase for five minutes when Tenten finally reached her house, jumping over the wall that surrounded it. After landing softly, she jumped slightly, hearing a loud _'BANG!'_ on her gates.

"Give me back my notes right now!"

Tenten stared at the gates with wide eyes, half-expecting Neji to break it down.

_"Tenny?"_

Quickly spinning around, she found her mother looking at her with worry. Tenten forced a smile and greeted her, and switched to her native language.

"Oh, Mama! _Xia wu hao_!" (1)

"Welcome home... Um, who is the person outside..?" Mrs. Hua asked, wincing as Neji continued to bang at the gates. Tenten gave a high-pitched laugh, waved her hand and said,

"Ah, it's a...friend from school..."

_"Give me back my notes!"_

"He seems angry..." Mrs. Hua quietly whispered, eyeing the shaking gates.

"It's...it's a game! It's called, um, 'Take the Notes!'" Tenten laughed uneasily. "You take a friend's notes and see how long you last before you return them."

_"Give it to me now!"_

Mrs. Hua gave her daughter a doubtful look, and Tenten added, "It's really popular right now!"

"_Ji_... You kids make up the strangest games these days." Tenten's mother shook her head, remembering the days of her childhood when a simple game of "Red light, Green light" was enough.

"Don't worry, Mama," Tenten said encouragingly. "He'll leave soon."

"All right..." Mrs. Hua left to her room mumbling something in Chinese, and as soon as she was gone, Tenten grabbed a ladder and climbed up to look at the furious boy on the other side of the wall.

"_Yijing hui jia!" (2)_

"What are you talking about? Give me my paper!"

Tenten scrunched her nose. She forgot to switch to her Japanese. She yelled back,

"Go home already!"

"Give me my paper back!" Neji yelled, glaring at the girl.

"They're just notes, not an essay! It's not like you'll die. Besides, shouldn't you get started on raising that money? If you hang around here, I'll definitely win."

Neji scowled at the smiling girl for a short moment before walking to his own house and yelling, "You better give it back on Monday!"

Tenten just stuck her tongue out at the other and climbed down the ladder, smiling to herself.

* * *

**(1)If you don't know, Mama is "mom" in Chinese! So it's NOT like a childish way of saying mom. **

**Also, if you don't know, "Xiu wu hao" means "Good afternoon," in Chinese.**

**(2)Yes. That means "Go home already." I love having Tenten be Chinese.**

**Chinese…. I've liked it lately. For my LEAP (Gifted and Talented) class, I'm reading the Good Earth. It's not the best book, but it's interesting!**

**Please review!**

**Chaki~  
**


	6. Cute?

**Chapter 6!**

* * *

Early the next morning, Neji was fixing his tie in front of his bathroom mirror. He was accompanying his father to a conference where they would discuss a deal between Hyuga Technology and Nara Architects. Making some last-minute adjustments to his hair, Neji nodded at his reflection in the mirror in satisfaction, ready for anything that day.

* * *

"Then it's settled. Hyuga Technology and Nara Architects will be working together," Hiashi finalized, standing up to shake Nara Architect's CEO's hand. The latter then went to shake Neji's hand, patting him on the shoulder.

"Your uncle was excellent today, Neji-san," Nara Shikaku complimented. "It's nice to see a nephew attending a conference with his uncle."

"Thank you, sir," Neji said politely, bowing to the older man.

"Speaking of which, doesn't my son go to the same school as you?"

"Yes, sir. Shikamaru-san has been doing exceptionally well on the school's soccer team this year."

"Ah, that's true," Shikaku chuckled. "Oh, aren't you kids going on a trip at the end of the year?"

"Yes, sir," Neji replied, and then feigned discouragement. "But, to be honest, we're having some difficulty raising the money for all the expenses..."

Though Neji was adamant about honesty, he knew when he could use a situation-or a person-to his advantage when needed. And in this case, that was just what he was doing. Nara Shikaku was extremely rich; there was no doubt about that. Even though his son was lazy and only maintained adequate grades, Neji knew he needed to stay on his father's good side.

"Really? I donated a couple million yen to help out..." Shikaku contemplated, tapping his chin in thought.

"...You donated?" Neji asked, trying not to sound rude. Shikaku nodded, smiled, and replied,

"A very nice girl came to meet me yesterday. She said she was part of the Student Council. Ah... What was her name?"

"Hua Tenten..." Neji muttered her name through gritted teeth.

"That's it!" Shikaku snapped his fingers. "She was very sweet. She even helped Shikamaru with his English assignments."

"Is that so?" Neji asked, forcing a smile.

"It's true. You're very lucky to have such a girl on the Student Council," Shikaku complimented.

But for Neji, it was far from a compliment.

"THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" Neji yelled in frustration, angrily throwing his cell phone onto his bed. Out of all the fifty-eight CEO's he had called, forty-seven of them had already donated to the Konoha Private High School Student Council.

And they had all talked to Hua Tenten.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, eji glared at the wall, hoping it would just burst into flames. It was getting late, and it would be rude to call anyone at this hour, so Neji decided to give it a break until the next day. He really hoped he wouldn't lose this bet.

He still needed 28,000,000 yen.

After finishing volume three of _Absolute Boyfriend_, Tenten stretched out on her bed, smiling to herself. Today had been a good day. Even though it wasn't easy, she had collected 95% of the money she needed. Rolling onto her side, Tenten noticed the paper she had kept from Neji the other day sitting on her desk. She sat up straight and walked to her desk, curious as to what she thought was written on it. Unfolding the paper, she read the lazy handwriting in the left margin.

_"Hua Tenten is annoying, stupid, short, annoying, cute annoying, adorable short, kind of pretty NEEDS TO DIE."_

In shock, Tenten dropped the paper, letting it flutter to the ground. She stared at the wall for a good minute, a million thoughts racing through her mind.

"Oh... So _that's_ why he wanted it back so badly. Because he wrote that I'm cute."

Suddenly, her knees buckled, and she sat back down on the edge of her bed, practically hyperventilating.

_"He thinks I'm 'cute, adorable, and kind of pretty.' But...WHY? And when has he ever thought that? He hates me..! And...and I hate him!"_

For a fleeting second, Tenten had second thoughts about that last part, but quickly shook it off, yelling,

"I HATE YOU, HYUGA NEJI!"

Burying her face into her pillow, Tenten screamed into it in an attempt to clear her mind. After slowing down her heart rate, she peeked at the paper on the floor, and picked up her cell phone.

* * *

Neji was in the middle of solving a Calculus problem when his older cousin came into his room, holding the home phone. She handed it to him, covering the mouthpiece and whispered,

"For you."

Neji took it and mouthed, _"Who is it?"_

Hinata just shrugged and left the room, closing the door behind her. Putting the phone to his ear, Neji answered,

"Hello, this is Hyuga Neji."

"Ah, good evening, Neji-san. This is Mr. Lee, head of Lee Electronics. I apologize for calling at this hour."

"Oh, it's no problem, sir," Neji replied professionally, sitting up straight on instinct. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Actually, I called to help _you_," the CEO said, surprising the other. "My son, Rock Lee, goes to Konoha Private High School, too, and he's told me about the end of the year class trip. I'd like to donate 50,000,000 yen to help cover the expenses."

Blinking once to make sure he wasn't dreaming, Neji struggled to get the words out.

"F...Fifty million yen..?"

"Is it not enough?"

"N-No, sir!" Neji quickly replied. "T-That's more than enough."

"Is that so?" Mr. Lee asked. Neji, smiling brightly, answered,

"Yes, sir. In fact, it'd be best if you only donated 28,000,000 yen. I wouldn't want to take too much money from you, sir."

"All right, then. I'll handle all the transfers. Oh, and Neji?"

"Yes, sir?" Neji wondered, and Mr. Lee said,

"Grades are certainly important, but so are human relationships. It's okay to be cautious of deceptive people, but it's always good to open up to others and make friends."

At a complete loss for words, Neji could only say, "S-Sir..?"

"Well, that's all. Good night, Neji," Mr. Lee simply stated, leaving Neji more confused than he had ever been his whole life.

* * *

"Mom... I, um, forgot my cell phone," Tenten said, trying to escape from the last place she wanted to be at. But her mother hushed her, asking,

"You're just eating lunch. Why do you need it?"

"Well-"

Before Tenten could finish her sentence, the door opened, and Hanabi took Tenten into a tight embrace, exclaiming,

"Tenten, you look so cute in that dress!"

"T-Thank you, Hanabi-chan," Tenten managed to say, being suffocated by the younger girl. After her mother left, Hinata came by and led her into the house. In the living room, Hanabi sat on one couch next to Hinata while Tenten sat on the adjacent couch. Tenten had, for a moment, wondered where a certain obnoxious boy was before Hanabi suddenly yelled,

"Neji-nii-san! Get down here now!"

Hanabi smiled at Tenten, and the latter could only return the smile, albeit uneasily, while Hinata blushed to crimson and apologized for her younger sister's behavior. A few moments later, Neji arrived in the living room, his face losing some of its color when he saw Tenten. He was about to sit in a chair opposite Tenten, but his younger cousin lowly murmured,

"Neji-nii-san..."

His face paling even more, Neji slowly sat down next to Tenten, avoiding eye contact with his cousins. When he sat down, Hanabi bright smile was back on her face, and she happily said,

"Well! Now that we're comfy, we can chat now as we wait for lunch!"

"Hanabi…" Hinata mumbled, and pulled her away from the room.

As Hanabi's complaints faded away, Neji and Tenten glared at each other from the corner of their eyes, a frown set upon each of their faces. For nearly three minutes, they sat in uncomfortable silence before Tenten broke it.

"So are you done gathering the money?"

"As a matter of fact, I am," the other replied with an air of haughtiness. When Tenten did nothing but nod, Neji asked,

"And you?"

"Of course," Tenten quickly replied, not even looking at Neji as she went through her purse, which annoyed him. He was about to say something when she pulled out a piece of paper and held it out to him, mumbling,

"Here."

Neji was confused for a second, but when he realized it was the paper Tenten had kept from him, he grabbed it, never wanting to let go again. He unfolded it to make sure she hadn't tampered with it when he noticed he had written some things about her in the margin. His eyes widened in horror when he read the words he had crossed out.

_"Did...Did I really write this stuff? But I was half-asleep the whole time, so...so it's not... Wait. HAS SHE READ IT?"_

Fear rising up in his heart, Neji glanced at the girl next to him, but her face was completely calm.

_"Did she not..?"_

Interrupting his thoughts, Mrs. Shim called out to the two of them, letting them know lunch was prepared. And before he had the chance to ask her anything, Tenten had already gotten up and gone to the dining room.

"I guess she didn't read it then..." Neji whispered to himself.

But he had no idea that Tenten felt like her heart was about to explode at any moment.

* * *

**OH NEJI NEJI NEJI. **

**Speaking of Neji, who watched the Neji Chronicles filler episode? I liked it! I'm not a big fan of fillers though. Heck, I don't watch the anime. I read the manga!**

**Hehehehe~ AH. I'm sorry it's so short! PSHA**

**I'm going to work on my Christmas one-shot now. It's been saved on my computer for a week now. I ought to finish it...**

**Chaki~**


	7. Awkward

**Chapter 7 is up!**

* * *

The rest of the day was rather uneventful; for all of lunch, everyone just talked about school, and afterwards Tenten went home. It was a normal lunch.

_"Too normal,"_ Neji thought to himself that night, lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. Something just wasn't right, and he knew that.

But what was it?

* * *

Monday morning arrived faster than everyone would've preferred, and the classrooms were soon full with students. Most of them were ready to get back to sleep, and this was no exception for Tenten.

"Tenten... Why do you look so tired? Did you study for a test we don't even have?" Akiko asked, kneeling next to Tenten's desk. But before Tenten could reply, Neji had slammed his schoolbag on his desk, making it clear to everyone that he was there. Staring at Neji with wide eyes, Akiko whispered,

"I-I'll talk to you later, Tenten..."

As Akiko quickly made her way back to her own desk, Tenten turned to glare at Neji. She was going to yell at him, but stopped once she saw how tired the other looked. His face was slightly pale, and there were circles forming under his eyes, making him look like a panda. In a way, it was somewhat cute, and it almost made Tenten want to laugh.

Almost.

Not much later, the homeroom teacher came in and immediately started calling roll. Halfway through, Iruka called out a name no one recognized.

"Morino Idate? Is Morino Idate here?" (1)

The students gave each other quizzical looks, asking questions like, _"There's a 'Morino Idate' in this class?"_ Some students concluded that it was a prank, until a boy frantically opened the classroom door and ran inside, nearly tripping over his own feet. With a nervous smile, he bowed to Iruka and said,

"I-I'm sorry. This place is so big, and I got lost. I'm the transfer student, Morino Idate."

"Oh, okay. I'll let you go this time," Iruka dismissed.

From the back of the classroom, Tenten curiously observed the new student. His hair was cut like many other boys' hair in the country, with one side longer than the other, but there was something odd about him, Tenten thought. Maybe it was his glasses-how they were slightly too large for his face and kept falling down his nose. Or maybe it was his nervous personality-something that reminded Tenten of Akiko when she first met her.

"Hm... There aren't any students without desk partners anymore, so I guess I'll just put you in a group of three. Sit with Neji and Tenten. They know the school best and can answer all the questions I don't know the answers to," Iruka passively said, going back to calling roll.

"Okay..." Idate quietly whispered, trying to find the specified students.

Raising her hand, Tenten waved to the new student, much to his relief. As Idate made his way to his new desk, he-again-almost tripped over the air. Awkwardly, Idate just stood next to the desk, seeing as there weren't any spare chairs in the room. Noticing this as well, Tenten scooted over on her own seat and whispered to Idate,

"Here, Idate-san. We can share for today."

"Oh, n-no, I couldn't," Idate protested, shaking his vigorously. Tenten waved a hand and replied,

"It's fine. You'll have your own seat by tomorrow."

"...T-Thank you," the other replied, awkwardly bowing, and sat on the other half of Tenten's chair. Smiling at the boy, Tenten introduced herself quietly.

"I'm Hua Tenten. Mr. I-Hate-The-World here is Hyuga Neji. Don't mind him, though. He just didn't sleep well last night or something."

"Hello," Idate whispered. "I'm Morino Idate. Again, thank you for sharing your seat with me. You must be uncomfortable..."

"I already said it's fine." Tenten laughed a little at the other's consideration for her well-being. "What's your schedule like?"

Idate rummaged through his messy schoolbag and, after a minute or two, pulled out his schedule and passed it to Tenten. After scanning the list of classes, Tenten said to him,

"It seems we have homeroom, Physics, lunch, and Calculus together. I can help you get to your other classes if you'd like."

"R-Really?" Idate squeaked, his voice cracking a little. His face instantly turned red as he whispered, "I...I mean, that would be nice."

The two laughed a little and turned their attention back to Iruka.

Neji however, was not enjoying any of this. He heard Iruka rant about not slacking off before the holidays, but he wasn't listening. His mind was busy wallowing in angst. For six years, he had never had a desk partner-which he liked. And now, in one week, he had _two_.

This winter was turning out to be a harsh one for him.

* * *

When homeroom ended, Tenten had drawn directions on a map of the school that Idate had to help him get around easily. She even mentioned a few shortcuts he could use, in case the main hallways or stairs were too crowded. The next two classes, History and Literature, passed by without any more transfer students appearing, and soon it was time for Physics class. Idate arrived before the tardy bell this time, and when he got to the classroom, there were actually enough seats to accommodate his new arrival. Even if he didn't have a desk partner, that was okay. He was glad he wouldn't have to bother anyone just because he didn't have a chair to sit in. Walking to the back of the classroom, Idate saw Tenten and sat at the desk behind her.

"Oh, hello, Idate-san," Tenten greeted kindly. "I see you made it to class on time."

Idate laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's all thanks to you, Tenten-san."

"You're welcome. Oh yeah, you can call me Tenten," Tenten smiled, but it disappeared when Neji arrived and slammed his bag full of textbooks onto his desk and sat down noisily. Turning to the newcomer, Tenten scolded,

"You shouldn't toss your bag onto the desk all the time. Don't you know it bothers some people?"

"I know it does," Neji snapped at her. "I'm just not in a good mood today, okay?"

"Since when have you ever been in a good mood?" Tenten mumbled just loud enough for Neji to hear, making him glare at her. But when all he got in return was an innocent look, Neji angrily turned to face the front of the room, glaring at the whiteboard as if it were the cause of his misery. And as if the last few moments hadn't just happened, Tenten turned back to Idate, smiling, and asked,

"Are you feeling all right, Idate-san? You look a little pale."

"Um... N-No, I'm...I'm fine," Idate stuttered, forcing a smile.

Before the two could talk more, Shizune, the Physics teacher (who also was Tsunade's assistant), entered the room and announced that they would be taking a pop quiz. Idate grinned to himself, getting his favorite pencil out, and eagerly awaited the pop quiz. He loved Physics, and at his old school, he was always the first one to finish the tests for that subject. When all of the papers were handed out, Shizune let everyone begin, and Idate immediately got started. Ten minutes later, Idate was halfway done.

_"Good timing," _Idate thought to himself. Five minutes later, he had finished two more problems. Just as he was about to get started on the next one, the sound of metal chair legs scratching against the floor reverberated throughout the room as two students raced to the teacher's desk. When Idate looked up from his paper, he saw Tenten and Neji walking back to their seats, the former smiling while the other scowled.

Idate gaped at the two students in front of him and then at this own paper, making sure there were thirty questions. Idate was smart; he knew that even if he didn't boast about it. But those two...

They were in a league of their own.

* * *

Shizune had finished her lesson right before the bell, and now all the students were eagerly eating lunch. Idate noticed that Neji had mysteriously disappeared, and a girl had taken his seat and was animatedly talking to Tenten. Looking around, he realized that he was the only one eating by himself and suddenly felt a heavy weight in the pit of his stomach.

"Idate-san, do you want to eat with us?" he heard Tenten ask.

Immediately, he looked up and exclaimed, "Really?"

When his voice cracked on the last syllable, his face turned bright red, and the girls giggled but nodded anyway, motioning for him to come over. Grinning like a fool, Idate pulled a chair up next to Tenten, bringing his lunch as well. Once everyone was settled, Tenten took charge of the introductions.

"Idate, this is Tanaka Akiko. Akiko, this is Morimo Idate. He transferred here today."

The two bowed to each other politely but did nothing after that. Bothered by the awkward silence, Tenten spoke up first.

"Oh, come on, guys. There's no need to be shy. Find something to talk about."

"Like what..?" Idate quietly asked.

"Like how Tenten is too fearless for her own good whenever she argues with Neji?" Akiko mumbled, not intending for the mentioned girl to hear it.

"I heard th-!" Tenten started, but Idate interjected, slamming his hand down on the desk.

"I know what you mean! It scares me, like Neji-san is going to snap and strangle Tenten or something!"

"Exactly! But Tenten doesn't seem to see that!" Akiko yelled across Tenten, who tried to speak again.

"I'm right he-"

"The tension between those two is so heavy, it makes you feel like your head is going to explode!" Idate exclaimed, completely forgetting Tenten was next to him.

"Finally, someone who understands," Akiko said, glaring at Tenten, who returned it with a frown. Akiko continued, "We're just worried about you, Tenten. All this fighting and bickering isn't good for your health."

"It's not my fault that Neji makes everything so complicated," Tenten argued, crossing her arms.

Reading a book on English grammar in the library, Neji sneezed.

* * *

**(1) W.T.F. I feel so stupid. I'm a stupid person. I'M SORRY. x( I couldn't find a could character to serve this part! At least... not in the manga! I really didn't want to put in a friggin' OC, so I put in a character from a filler episode. I was considering Sai... but that would be awkward. But y'know... a character like this is going to be needed... UGH. **

**I give Christmas cookies and milk to those who reviewed!**

**Chaki~**


	8. His Pride

English class had passed by like always, as did Music Composition. The only thing that was different was the fact that Neji was a bit more snappy, due to his newfound fatigue. Before Tenten came to this school, Neji was never _this _tired-another reason for him to hate her. However, to break the cycle of normalcy, something interesting happened in Gym class that afternoon.

"Tenten-san! Tenten-san!" yelled a boy with a clean bowl cut.

"Lee?" Tenten turned to face the boy who was running towards her from across the gym. He came to a stop in front of her and said,

"Hey, thanks for helping me finish my History project! I would've failed if it weren't for you. My dad is also really thankful. Why didn't you accept the mon-OW!"

Before he could finish the last syllable, Tenten had discreetly stomped on Lee's foot, as Neji was nearby and had been listening. Feigning worry, Tenten yelled,

"Oh, my gosh! Lee, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I-I'm fine. But, Tenten-san, why did you just-OW!"

Tenten stomped on his foot again.

"You should go to the nurse! Here, I'll help you," Tenten said, helping a tearful Rock Lee walk out of the gym and to the nurse's office.

Still in the gym, Neji murmured to himself,

"What the heck was that all about?"

* * *

When Tenten had finished wrapping the forming bruise on Lee's foot, the boy sighed in relief and said to her,

"Thank you, Tenten-san. But why did you keep stomping on my foot?"

Giving him a confused look, Tenten said, "I didn't stomp on your foot..."

"I'm pretty sure you did... I mean, just all of a sudden-"

"Ah!" Tenten interrupted. "You're in Tae Kwon Do, right? You probably hurt your foot, and you're just now starting to feel the pain. It happens all the time to professionals."

"Oh... You're probably right. I did have a tournament yesterday," Lee contemplated. "Well, I'm sorry for accusing you, Tenten-san! Thank you for helping me."

"You're welcome," Tenten said softly, forcing a smile.

Soon after, Tenten helped Lee get back to the gym, letting him sit on the bleachers. When Akiko asked about what had happened, Tenten gave her the same explanation she gave to Lee, and, much to Tenten's relief, she accepted it. In Calculus, Neji didn't say a word to Tenten. He didn't even look at her. To be honest, it kind of scared her. And the silence between them didn't help alleviate the pressure as they worked on problems out of the textbook the teacher had assigned them.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

When the last bell of the day rang, Neji quickly gathered his things and left for the Student Council room. Carefully, Idate approached Tenten and softly asked,

"Are you all right, Tenten?"

Suddenly noticing his presence, Tenten looked at Idate in surprise and then relaxed, replying,

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a little tired."

"Okay..." was all Idate could say in return. Tenten closed her schoolbag and hurriedly said to Idate,

"I have to get going now. I'm sorry. I'll see you tomorrow!"

As she quickly left, Idate watched her leave, worried something was wrong. Suddenly by his side, Akiko calmly said,

"Don't worry. She's always like that."

"Really..?"

"Mmhm."

* * *

Cautiously entering the Student Council room, Tenten made her way to a student desk, but was stopped when Neji said,

"Sit here."

Slowly, Tenten looked at Neji, but his eyes were focused on some papers while he pointed to a stool next to him. She knew better than to argue with the other, but that side got the best of Neji as she defiantly asked,

"Why should I?"

"Just do it," Neji quickly retorted. So without further protest, Tenten quietly sat next to Neji, avoiding eye contact and fiddling with the hem of her sweater.

"Have you handled all the transfers of the money for the class trip?" Neji asked, keeping his eyes on a specific sheet of paper. Tenten, keeping her own eyes on the floor tiles, replied,

"Yes. It's all in the school's funds now."

Neji nodded and continued to ask questions.

"So you know Rock Lee?"

Tenten closed her eyes for a moment and bit her lip before answering with a simple,

"Yes..."

"I heard you helped him with his History project," Neji casually stated, making Tenten bite her bottom lip again before replying,

"Uh-huh..."

"Did his father offer to donate money?" Neji pressed, and by then, Tenten knew that he knew. She tried to be strong, but her answer only came out as a whisper.

"...No."

She heard Neji set his pen down, and then everything went silent. Tenten felt her heart palpitating as if she had run a marathon, and she was sure wrinkles had formed at the bottom of her sweater from her constant nervous wringing. Neji looked at Tenten and asked in a low voice,

"Do you think it's funny?"

"Think what's funny..?" Tenten asked in vain.

"Quit acting like you don't know!" Neji suddenly yelled, making Tenten flinch. "I know you helped Lee with his project, and that his dad offered to give you money for the class trip. I know you didn't accept it, and instead, you asked him to give it to me!"

Too scared to look him in the eyes, Tenten kept her gaze on the desk in front of her and replied,

"So what? You got the money you needed. That's all that matters!"

"I don't care about the money! This is about my pride!"

"Who cares about pride?" Tenten shouted, facing Neji now.

"I do!" Neji quickly shot back. "My pride...is everything I have."

Looking into his eyes, Tenten could see how much those words meant to him-how much it was hurting him. His gaze was so intense...so fragile...

Tenten lost the strength to keep looking at him as she whispered,

"I...I'm sorry..."

"Yeah, well, 'sorry' doesn't cut it," Neji coldly replied. He kept looking at Tenten, as if expecting her to say more.

She _wanted_ to say more. She really did.

But she just didn't know _what_ to say.

With a sigh just loud enough for Tenten to hear, Neji took all of his belongings and left the room. When she heard the door close, Tenten put a shaking hand to her cheek, realizing a tear had fallen.

* * *

**I was going to update yesterday... but I had a party to go to. Two different ones. It's was tiring. I woke up at 11 today. Anyway! This chapter is short, but I'm uploading another one later today, so be happy! I'm late. The next one has a little Christmas to it. **

**AUGH. I'M REALLY SORRY FOR ENDING IT LIKE THIS. I didn't want to have to put so much angst in this story. For those of you who know me, I don't like it when friends fight. (Yes, I consider Neji and Tenten to be friends.) When I start fighting with a certain butt munch, I somehow end up crying. I just don't like it when friends fight, period. So it was hard to write this chapter. Oddly though, I won't cry if a cute animal dies or (most times) when someone dies in a drama. Anyway~see ya next time!**

**Please review!  
**

**Chaki~**


	9. True Present

**This is the Christmas chapter! Coming... a day late!**

* * *

The next morning was especially depressing, and the cold, windy skies outside weren't helping at all. It was the last day of school before they took a break for the holidays, but because of two particular students, the students of homeroom 2-A couldn't feel any Christmas cheer. Idate and Akiko had tried their best to talk to Tenten, but she seemed to be lost in a world of her own. As soon as the bell rang for first period, the students of homeroom 2-A rushed out to escape the suffocating atmosphere, and-surprisingly-the last ones to leave were Neji and Tenten.

Anyone who was in the same room with those two felt devoid of all holiday spirit. Even the teachers felt something was wrong, as their best students didn't try to participate in the class discussions. Once lunch hour had arrived after what seemed like ten painful years, Akiko immediately went up to Tenten and condescended,

"Hey, I don't know what's going on between you two, but this heavy aura you're dragging around is really depressing! So cheer up and go back to normal!"

"W-What she means..." Idate nervously joined in, "...is that you shouldn't be sad. It's Christmas Eve tomorrow, and you should be excited."

For a long minute, Tenten just stared at her desk, but then covered her face with her hands and shakily whispered,

"I'm sorry. I just...I really messed up yesterday, and...and I don't think I can fix it this time."

Gently, Akiko asked her, "What do you mean?"

After Tenten finished relaying yesterday's events to the other two, they sat there in silence; Akiko was the first to speak.

"These things...take time to heal, Tenten. It won't be like this forever..."

She put a comforting hand on Tenten's shoulder, and Tenten whispered,

"I hope so..."

The rest of the day passed as slowly as the morning had, and-finally-the last bell of the year had rung. Students ran out of the building, cheering and celebrating. Girls said their goodbye's with hugs, while the boys clapped each other on the backs. Everyone had either run home or had left in their chauffeur-driven cars-except for one student.

Hua Tenten walked to the Student Council room, and she felt her heart drop a little when she was greeted with an empty room. Slowly, she started walking home.

When she arrived at her house, she found her mother putting on a peacoat, getting ready to go out. As if reading her daughter's mind, her mother smiled and explained,

"I'm going out for some last-minute Christmas shopping. Why don't you join me, Tennie?"

Tenten and her mother spent the rest of the night in Tokyo's shopping district, picking out presents for friends and family.

The next day, Tenten slept in, physically, mentally, and emotionally distraught. And later that night, she spent Christmas Eve at an office party at her father's bank, trying her best to enjoy the company. A few hours after midnight, the party had ended, and Tenten was glad to get back to sleep. However, try as she did, she couldn't fall asleep.

The memories of Neji yelling at her prevented Tenten from as closing her eyes. For hours on end, she tossed and turned in her bed, trying to forget everything. She wished she could forget it all-just for one moment.

Finally, too exhausted to even think anymore, Tenten slowly fell asleep.

* * *

When Tenten woke up, she looked up at her clock on her desk, which said it was 9:18 a.m.

She had only been asleep for an hour.

Making her way downstairs, she went to the dining room to have a simple Christmas breakfast with her mother and father, and afterwards opened the numerous presents from her parents. Some of them included the new _KINECT_ for the XBOX 360, a_ Louis Vuitton_ purse, and the new _Galaxy_ cell phone from Samsung. With big hugs and kisses, she thanked her parents for everything.

Looking at a clock in the kitchen, Tenten saw the time was 11:56 a.m., and she asked her parents if she could go outside for a moment, to which they consented. After thanking them again, Tenten went upstairs to change clothes and was soon out the door. Slowly, she walked to her neighbor's house and, after a deep breath, rang the doorbell. She was soon greeted with a very tired-looking Neji.

"What?" he asked, his voice colder than the December air. Looking to the side, Tenten held out a bag of gifts that she had brought with her and said,

"It's for your uncle and cousins from my family."

With a small sigh, Neji took the bag as was about to close the door when Tenten held out another gift. This one was wrapped in simple white paper and decorated with a gold ribbon on top. Keeping her eyes away from the boy in front of her, Tenten mumbled,

"And...this is for you...from me."

For a very long time, Neji just stared at the present before taking it and shutting the door. Confused and slighlty hurt by the other's actions, Tenten turned to go back to her own home.

But before she could take a step, the door opened again, and she turned back around to find Neji holding out a bag out to her. Avoiding Tenten's gaze, he softly said,

"From my parents to yours."

"...Thank you," Tenten quietly replied, taking the bag. And immediately after, Neji held out a small red box, still looking away from Tenten as he almost inaudibly murmured,

"For you."

Thoroughly surprised, Tenten took her time in accepting the gift and whispered,

"...Thank you..."

Neji took a glance at Tenten and immediately averted his gaze when he saw her smiling at him. Trying to stay cool, Neji said to her,

"Don't blame me if you don't like it. My mom just told me to buy something for you."

Tenten just smiled anyway. Neji suddenly felt awkward and mumbled,

"Well...okay...bye."

He was about to close the door when someone called his name from inside his house. Frowning, Neji looked behind him and said,

"...Yes, Hinata? Hanabi?"

Hanabi smiled as she clasped her hands and said,

"Look up!"

When Neji and Tenten did so, they both quickly looked down again. There, hanging above the door was a tiny piece of mistletoe.

"Is that..?" Tenten tried to ask. Neji glared at the ground and said through gritted teeth,

"Hanabi put it up there and invited Hinata's crush over here so that when he came and Hinata opened the door, they would kiss."

"I see..." was all Tenten said back.

"...We don't have to," Neji whispered so that his mother wouldn't hear, but she did.

"Neji-nii-san, if you don't do it, I'm taking going to smash your new laptop," Hanabi flatly stated, as she held Neji's Christmas gift.

Neji looked at his cousin in horror, and then at Tenten in embarrassment.

"Hanabi! Put that down! Or else I'll -" Neji threatened

"I will," she threatened.

"Don't!" he barked

"Neji-nii-san!..." both cousins said at once, was glaring at him now.

With his face pink from embarrassment, Neji leaned over to give Tenten a tiny kiss on the cheek and yelled a quick _"Goodbye!"_ before slamming the door shut.

And even though she just had a door slammed in her face, Tenten found herself blushing. As she walked home, she couldn't suppress the tiny smile forming on her face.

It began to snow.

* * *

**NEJI. YOU. ADORABLY. FAIL. AT. ROMANCE. 8DDDDDDDDD**

**I had so much fun writing this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did~**

**Oh, what's that? What were their presents? All will be revelaed later~ D**

**Please comment and look forward to the next update!**

**Chaki~**


	10. Black and White

**I would like to say:**

**OMG, DOUBLE DIGITS :D Now, Read on!**

* * *

Sunday had passed peacefully, and soon it was Monday again. Early that morning, the students of Konoha Private High School were happily talking about their Christmases, but the students of homeroom 2-A fell eerily quiet when Tenten entered the room. Practically in unison, the students looked at Neji in the back of the class and then back to Tenten, who was warily making her way to her seat. Her eyes were on the ground, but she could feel the stares aimed at her for what reason she didn't know. When she sat in her seat, she looked at the lightly blushing Neji next to her and finally realized why people were staring.

Tenten was wearing a white scarf with a black plaid pattern, while Neji was wearing a black scarf with a white plaid pattern. By pure coincidence, that was what they had gotten each other for Christmas, but they didn't think they'd be wearing them on the same day.

_"Are they a couple?"_ was among the most frequently-asked questions, along with _"Do they like each other?" _and _"Don't they look cute together?" _Tenten heard a girl say to another,

"They look so cute in their matching scarves!"

And Neji was listening to a conversation between two boys beside him:

"Are those two dating?" the first boy asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were. They look like they've liked each other for a long time now," replied the second.

When the second boy caught Neji glaring at him, he immediately stopped talking and averted his gaze. After that, the students continued their previous conversations, though a few would sneak glances at the two silent students in the back of the room every now and then. A few moments later, Idate had come running into the room, nearly tripping over himself and made his way to the desk he now shared with Tenten and Neji. When he saw his desk partners' matching scarves, he opened his mouth to ask a question, but Neji coldly said before him,

"Don't ask."

And Tenten stared at her desk as she whispered, "I'll...tell you later..."

"Okay..." Idate murmured, sitting to the left of Tenten so that she was between him and Neji. Not long after, Iruka came into the room, looking as bored as always, and started taking roll. When he called out _"Hua Tenten,"_ he looked up to see the said student to confirm she was present. As he did so, he made it very obvious that he was looking at Tenten's scarf that matched Neji's, and he did the same when he called _"Hyuga Neji."_

In History class, Ebisu gave out a twenty-question pop quiz that Neji and Tenten had finished in seven minutes flat. Walking back to their desks, they could hear some students whispering that everything about them was now matching. In Physics, Idate had to contain the many questions that were burning on the tip of his tongue. He even almost missed an important piece of information from Shizune's lecture because he was busy wondering why his desk partners had matching scarves. Finally, it was lunchtime, and as soon as Neji had run to the library, Akiko practically leaped across the room and asked the question everyone wanted the answer to:

"What is going on?"

"I'd like to know as well..." Idate shyly whispered, afraid Tenten would get mad at him. But Tenten merely sighed and quickly answered,

"We got each other a scarf for Christmas, but I had no idea he would get me one that _coincidentally_ matched mine! And how was I supposed to know that we would both wear them today?"

Idate winced a little when Tenten slammed her forehead on her desk, and Akiko just stared and slowly asked,

"You got him something for Christmas?"

"Well, I...I was shopping with my mom when I saw it and thought he might like it," Tenten mumbled, her head still on the desk.

"So...you were thinking about him?" Akiko mused, a smile forming on her face. And at that moment, Tenten's head shot up and she yelled,

"N-Not like that..!"

"Oh, Tenten," Akiko hummed, patting the other girl's head. "You're so cute. Isn't she just adorable, Idate-san?"

"Um..." Idate began, but when he caught Tenten glaring at him, he looked at his shoes and mumbled, "I-I'd rather not answer..."

"Let's talk about something else," Tenten said, hoping to talk about anything that didn't involve Neji.

"Oh, my gosh! Have you heard?" Akiko immediately exclaimed, ready to reveal her latest news of the day. "Uchiha Sasuke from class 2-B got a schedule change!"

Tenten and Idate just stared back at her in response, and Tenten weakly asked,

"And _why_ is this breaking news?"

"Because..." Akiko began to explain in a _"duh"_ tone. "...In order to change his schedule, he got his dad to give fifty million yen to the school to persuade the principal. This is the first time it's happened since the beginning of the year, when a bunch of students did the same thing because they didn't like their classes."

"Wow... The things you can do with money," Tenten murmured. The trio spent the rest of their lunch hour talking about the Literature test, and when lunch was over, English had started. Kurenai began class by saying that she had finally finished grading their mid-term exams, and she had gone on a long rant about how "improved grades make for an improved future."

"Fortunately, there were two students who earned perfect scores," Kurenai beamed. "Hua Tenten and Hyuga Neji!"

The students clapped politely, and some whispered, _"Matching grades!"_ After handing back the exams, Kurenai went on with the day's lesson, going up and down the rows of desk and having every student read a section out of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's _Alice in Wonderland_. While the rest of the class was busy reading about the tea party with the Mad Hatter, Neji had scribbled something on a sheet of paper and handed it to Tenten, who looked at him in confusion. Making it look like he was reading, Neji whispered,

"Open it."

Reluctantly, Tenten did so and was surprised when she read the note:

_"I'm tired of these rumors. We need to stop them now."_

Tenten sighed quietly and wrote under the other's message, _"For once, I agree with you. But what do we do?"_

She passed the paper back to Neji, who slowly opened it and took a while to write back. After folding the note once, he carefully slid it across the desk, and Tenten caught it with ease, rolling her eyes when she read what Neji had written.

_"Just tell everyone we aren't a couple."_

Making sure Kurenai was busy helping another student with their pronunciation, Tenten quickly jotted down, _"That'll never work. No one would believe us. This is what we should do..." _After Tenten finished the rest of the plan, she handed the note to Neji, who didn't seem pleased with it, because he wrote back,

_"Are you kidding me? I'm not doing that."_

_"Well, it's a plan-a plan that'll work if you would just cooperate," _Tenten wrote in response. _"If you would just go along with it for thirty seconds, the rumors will end, and you can go back to your normal life where no one bothers you. With the occasional exception of me. So what do you say?"_

When Neji was finished reading the other's response, he silently sighed and whispered to her,

"Fine..."

Eventually, English class had come to an end, and when everyone was packing up, Neji and Tenten quickly nodded to each other. Taking a deep breath, Tenten slammed her hands down on her desk and stood up, yelling,

"I can't stand it anymore!"

Shocked by the normally calm girl's sudden exclamation, the students in the classroom were all looking at Tenten. Taking note of this, Neji also stood up and, playing the part of a concerned boyfriend, asked Tenten,

"What do you mean?"

"You!" she loudly replied. "I can't stand you anymore!"

Neji felt the other's acting was almost too believable as he shouted back, "What did you just say?"

"You heard me! You're annoying, you're mean, you're too much of a perfectionist, you're inconsiderate, you're a jerk-!"

_"They get it..." _Neji lowly whispered, sensing that Tenten was being a little too honest there. Tenten then stopped spouting her inner thoughts and went on with their plan.

"So...yeah!" Tenten lamely finished. And Neji said clearly, for even the students outside in the hallway to hear,

"So are you saying we should _break up?_"

Tenten had to refrain from face-palming because of how Neji had put too much stress on the last two words, but answered, still in character,

"Yes, that's what I'm saying."

"Well, fine!"

"Fine!"

"I'm glad we could settle this," Neji said as if he were closing a business deal.

"As am I," Tenten replied just as professionally.

The two shook hands and made eye contact-which was a big mistake on their part. It was only for half a second, but it was like a replay of the night Tenten's family had gone over to Neji's house for dinner the first day they met. Everything had gone silent, and they had completely forgotten everything else around them in that half-second.

Finally forcing themselves to pull away from each other, they looked at anything and everything that wasn't the other person. Clearing her throat, Tenten broke the second of silence.

"Well...s-see you later, then."

"Yeah... Sure," Neji mumbled in response.

Hoping to avoid any more awkward silences, Tenten took her schoolbag and quickly left the room and past the spectators. The students took Tenten's exit as their cue to leave, and they soon dispersed, immediately telling their friends about what had just happened. And after unnecessarily straightening his uniform blazer, Neji left the classroom and headed to the Music Composition classroom, glad that all of the rumors about him and Tenten were over.

* * *

**Thank you for reading my fic, and those reviewing, I thank you so much! As for you silent readers, I don't mind if you faved or reviewed or anything. ^^ I would appreciate it! **

**Thank you! I'll be updating around Thursday!**

**Chaki~**


	11. Melody

In Music Composition, Tenten and eji made sure to sit as far away from each other as possible, and all the students had already heard the stories of their "tearful breakup." When the bell rang for the class to begin, Anko skipped to the front of the room and clapped her hands together, announcing,

"Hello, class! Listen up! Today, we have a new student. You all probably know him already, but let's welcome...Uchiha Sasuke!"

The class waved to Sasuke, who was sitting beside Tenten. For a second, she wondered how long he had been there because that was the first time she had noticed his presence. Anko continued,

"I have a meeting to attend this class period, so... Hm, I really don't know what I what you guys should do. Oh! Get with a partner and compose a mini-song-without using any instruments. And since there's an odd number of you here, someone can either work by themselves or join another group. Okay, then. Be good, children!"

After Anko had trekked out of the classroom, the students began grouping up and getting started on their mini-songs, as all of them were serious about this class. Neji had chosen to do the assignment by himself-not that anyone was complaining. Sasuke looked around the class and turned to Tenten, asking,

"Want to be my partner?"

"Um...sure," Tenten agreed, seeing how it would've been rude to say "no." Sasuke held out a hand and introduced himself.

"Hi. I'm Uchiha Sasuke."

_"Yeah. I kind of got that when Anko-sensei introduced you to the class,"_Tenten thought. She shook his hand and replied, "Nice to meet you. I'm Hua Tenten."

"Well," Sasuke began, taking out a composition book lined with staves. "What kind of song should we compose?"

"Mm... I'm not really sure. A duet, maybe?" Tenten suggest. Sasuke thought about it for a moment, then nodded his head in a bored fashion.

"Sure. Why not?"

After another minute of discussion, they had decided on a four-hand piano duet. As they came up with a tune, Tenten noticed Sasuke tapping the table as if it were a piano, and he would lightly hum the notes as well. How he kept the right pitch in this key without an actual piano impressed Tenten, and so she decided to ask him,

"Why did you change your schedule?"

Sasuke looked up at Tenten and gave a sheepish laugh, replying, "Well, I just changed from Music Theory to Music Composition. Theory was too easy for me, so..."

Tenten smiled a little, realizing he must really love music to have gone through all that trouble just for one class. Reassured that Sasuke wasn't just another rich, pretty boy, Tenten continued making suggestions for their mini-song. Thirty minutes later, Anko came back to the classroom and asked,

"All right, who wants to go first?"

The students in the classroom just remained silent, as most of them were the shy, modest type of musicians. Shrugging, Anko said, "Don't be such babies! Okay, then... I guess I'll just have to choose. Hm... new kid and Tenten, come on up."

Sasuke and Tenten made their way to Anko's desk, which was a _Steingraeber & Söhne _grand piano today, and Anko sat in an empty chair nearby. After setting the composition book on the stand, Tenten sat on the left side of the piano bench to play the second pair of hands (the lower notes), while Sasuke took the right side to play the first pair (the higher notes). Sasuke started with a simple, repeating tune, and Tenten played a simple melody as well, going up and down a set of scales.

After a few more measures, the two suddenly quickened the tempo, and Sasuke changed the key while Tenten turned the page. Also in the process of the key change, Sasuke moved to the right side of the piano bench, sliding down theB flat scale, and Tenten quickly got up and moved to where Sasuke had previously been. They were now playing at 144 bpm, and it seemed like they were having a piano battle, but their parts were in perfect harmony, complimenting each other's styles. Everyone could tell they were having fun, as they smiled (well, Sasuke gave a stern look though) while they crossed their arms across the others on the single piano. The two then started playing a set of staccato notes in unison, three octaves apart. They finalized the piece with Tenten playing middle _C_ while Sasuke played the _G _below middle _C_, his hand resting atop Tenten's.

"I told you to compose a mini-song, not a sonata. But that's okay!" Anko laughed and clapped, the students joining in the round of applause. Tenten and Sasuke bowed politely and went to sit back in their seats. When they sat down, Anko asked them,

"What did you title your mini-song?"

"Oh... Well, we didn't nam-" Tenten started, but Sasuke cut her off, saying,

"It's called _'A New Friendship.'_"

Confused, Tenten looked at Neji, but when she saw him with a serious face, she turned back to Anko, and said,

"Yes. _'A New Friendship.'_"

"Well, it suits the piece," Anko mused, smiling. "Now...who wants to go next?"

Again the class remained silent, not wanting to perform after Sasuke and Tenten's "masterpiece." Anko was about to pick a group herself, but Neji raised his hand and said,

"I'll go, Anko-sensei."

"Thank you, Neji. Go right ahead," Anko replied, gesturing to the waiting piano.

Neji silently made his way to the piano bench, carefully setting his composition book on the stand. Quietly, he took a deep breath and started playing his composition.

The style of his song was the polar opposite of Sasuke and Tenten's, as his tempo was around 60 bpm, but that didn't mean it was any less difficult. He played every note with gentle accuracy, and his careful use of the damper pedal made the notes softly ring in the air. The sound had a subdued energy to it, as if Neji were holding something back that yearned to be set free.

As he turned the page, Neji looked past the composition book and made eye contact with Tenten, who had been attentatively listening. Neji looked back to the composition book, making sure he hadn't lost his place and continued playing his song. Every now and then, though, he would sneak glances at Tenten, but he would always immediately look away, because every time he looked at her, she was looking back at him. When he finished the piece, a few girls said, _"Awww..."_

Anko asked Neji, "What is the title of your piece?"

Neji nervously looked down at his feet and mumbled,

"It...it doesn't have a title. I don't...know what to call it."

Again, some girls went _"Awww..."_and put their hands to their cheeks. Anko rolled her eyes, but smiled and said,

"Well, maybe as time goes by, you'll figure out what it is."

Looking up at his teacher, Neji felt like Anko's word held a deeper meaning, but before he could figure it out, the bell had rung.

"Oh! That's the bell," Anko sang. "No homework today!"

Neji went back to his seat, gathering his things, and he was about to close his bag when he felt a presence nearby. Looking beside him, he saw Tenten, who was wearing a shy smile on her face.

"You song was nice," Tenten said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I really liked it."

And with one last smile, she walked away, leaving Neji to his thoughts. For reasons unknown to him, Neji felt his face getting warm, and his chest hurt for a brief moment.

"What the heck..?" Neji mumbled under his breath. He took his schoolbag and left for his next class, trying to figure out what he was feeling at that moment.

* * *

**I'm sorry this chapter is so short! It's just that there's so much that happened in this chapter. I didn't want to overload your minds with too much content, so... Please forgive me! Eek!**

**I was originally going to make Sasuke a conceited, spoiled rich playboy, but I figured that was a _little _too mean. I was really going to make him a terrible person. Haha. But then I thought, "Hm... Won't it be too obvious that I don't like him?" Hahaha. And I also figured that I might (MIGHT) have readers who like Sasuke, so...yeah. YOU'RE WELCOME.**

**There were a lot of musical terms in this story, and I'm so sorry if you didn't understand them. If you didn't know a four-hand piano duet is where two people play on the same piano... Kind of self-explanatory. Oh, and 144 bpm (beats per minute) is really fast... Just letting you know. XD So 60 bpm would be pretty slow. Well, not really, but compared to 144 bpm... Hahaha. Oh, and _G _below middle_ C_ isn't that far from middle _C_, so Sasuke and Tenten might as well have been holding hands at the end of their performance.**

**Which reminds me. Don't hate me for putting in SasuTen a bit... think of it as... poking poor jealous Neji with a stick! I made it up in the end though, I hope! ^^**

**Thanks for reading this chapter! Please read and review! (ahh~ There isn't going to be no Naruto until the 3rd week of January! I won't be able to survive!)**

**Chaki~**


	12. Competition

In gym class, Coach Asuma just let the students do what they wanted as long as it didn't involve destroying school property. Tenten and Akiko were taking turns taking basketball shots when the latter asked,

"So what's up with you and Neji-san now?"

"Nothing, I guess. We're back to how everything used to be," Tenten plainly replied, making a perfect shot without having the ball touch the rim. She passed the basketball to Akiko, who remained skeptical and asked,

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Tenten said, catching the ball that had bounced off the backboard. Akiko wasn't completely convinced, but seceded to let the subject go for now. After Tenten had made another basket, Akiko said,

"Speaking of which, he's not brooding around like usual."

Bouncing the basketball at his side, Tenten turned to where Akiko was looking, finding Neji just sitting on the bleachers as if deep in thought.

"Maybe we should invite him to play a game."

"What?" Akiko asked incredulously. "You guys are too competitive. You'd trample over my body if it meant beating each other at anything."

Tenten gave Akiko a knowing look, and Akiko just shrugged. Playfully rolling her eyes, Tenten kept the basketball in her hands and approached the lone boy sitting on the bleachers and asked him, smiling,

"Wanna play a game?"

Surprised, Neji looked at Tenten, but surprise quickly turned to annoyance as he coldly answered,

"No."

"Fine. If you're so scared you're going to lose..." Tenten trailed off, starting to walk away.

Glaring at her, Neji retorted, "I didn't say I was scared of losing."

"You didn't have to say it," Tenten replied, smiling calmly.

Seriously irritated now, Neji stood up and walked past Tenten, mumbling under his breath, "Fine. One game."

Tenten was about to ask Akiko whose team she wanted to be on, but the latter quickly sat on the bleachers and said,

"There's no way I'm playing with you two. You're playing one-on-one."

Frowning, Tenten stuck her tongue out at Akiko, who returned the gesture. Dribbling the ball over, Tenten stood on the free-throw line and said to Neji,

"Okay, the rules are simple. First one to score ten points wins."

"Hmph," was all Neji said in response. Immediately, Tenten dashed past him and easily scored a point with a perfect lay-up. Smiling at Neji, she simply said,

"One point for me."

She passed the ball to Neji, and they switched positions-Neji on offense, and Tenten on defense. Neji had an advantage with his build and height, but Tenten was quick on her feet and could jump high enough to block shots. Just as Neji attempted a shot, Tenten had knocked it out of his hands, passing the ball from her right hand to her left behind her back, and quickly dribbled the ball to make another lay-up, left-handed this time. Maintaining her smile, Tenten passed the ball to an irritated Neji, who easily caught it and tried to advance toward the basket. But Tenten was blocking his path, never moving away from Neji's view, which in this case was incredibly annoying to him. In a blink of an eye, Neji faked a right, but pivoted the opposite direction on his left foot, shooting the ball for the point.

Catching the ball Neji had passed to her, Tenten bounced it at her side, calculating how she would get around the other, who was nearly a foot taller. She first faked a left, which Neji saw through and followed her to the right, but Tenten pivoted once more to her left, going for a right-handed lay-up. Just as the ball left her fingertips, Neji jumped up and used his height to catch the ball in his left hand, quickly passing to his right, and dunked the ball into the basket.

They were tied now.

With the ball in her possession again, Tenten attempted to break through Neji's defense, but he was too tall. However, she had managed to inch closer to the basket with each attempt, and now she was just ten feet from it. Taking this into account, Tenten bounced the ball on the ground so that it rebounded through Neji's legs, and she dashed around him, catching the ball and threw it in the air, but Neji swiftly knocked it off course, sending it out of bounds. As Neji went to retrieve the ball, a group of girls in that were in that area handed it to her and whispered,

"We're rooting for you!"

"Thank you..." Tenten replied, smiling sheepishly, and went back to the half-court she and Neji were playing on. Glancing around, she noticed that a majority of the students in the gym had stopped to watch their game. With a deep breath, Tenten cleared her thoughts and focused only on getting past Neji and scoring eight more points.

* * *

Nearly twenty minutes had passed, and Neji and Tenten were still tied at two points. One of them would break through to make a shot, but the other quickly stole the ball or knocked it off course. Currently, Tenten had possession of the ball, and everything else in the gym seemed to be in a stalemate. By now, everyone-including Asuma-had stopped to observe the game between the two students.

Unlike the day they ran the 1.5 km for their mid-term exam, the two were tired-exhausted, even. In addition to stress from studying for classes, they had both undergone significant emotional stress, having to deal with feelings they never knew-and still didn't. Aside from the hushed whispers of the spectating students, the only sounds heard were their heavy breathing and the bouncing of the basketball against the wooden floor.

With one last push, Tenten used whatever strength she had left to run past Neji and towards the basket. Jumping in the air, Tenten went for a lay-up at the same time Neji had jumped u to block her.

Without warning, the two collided and fell to the ground. In the process, Neji had fallen backwards, his right foot taking the force of the fall. He felt his ankle tighten and twist painfully to the right, and Tenten had also fallen on top of him, her elbow digging into his ribs as their hit the floor.

"Ow..." Tenten murmured under her breath and got off of Neji, standing up to rub her shoulder. When she saw Neji clutching his side in pain, she immediately kneeled beside him, instinctively placing a hand on the other's arm and asked,

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Neji groaned, shrugging her off. He tried to stand up, but quickly sat back down when he felt the pain searing through his right ankle. Worried, Tenten told him with a sense of urgency,

"You really should see the nurse. Here, let me help you."

As soon as Tenten touched his arm, Neji pulled away and snapped, "I don't need your help."

"Yes, you do," she quickly retorted. "Now stop being a baby and let me help you."

"I'm not being a baby," Neji shot back, glaring at the girl next to him, who replied just as quickly,

"Fine! So be a man and just let me help you!"

Momentarily taken aback by the demanding tone in the other's voice, Neji turned to glare at the wall and mumbled,

"Whatever..."

He let Tenten help him stand up, and, after getting permission from Asuma, they slowly made their way to the nurse's office. As much as it hurt to limp all the way there, Neji knew it would've hurt ten times as much if Tenten hadn't been there to help him.

* * *

It had taken them a good ten minutes to make it to the nurse's office, who was also Tsunade, and served as principal, which wasn't even that far away. When Tsunade saw the giant bruise forming on Neji's sprained ankle, she asked him with wide eyes,

"What were you doing? Wrestling?"

"Um, no... I was playing basketball," he awkwardly replied.

"Against who? Akimichi Choji?" Tsunade asked, referring to the captain of the Sumo wrestling team. But Neji didn't respond and looked away, feeling a little embarrassed.

"H-He was playing against me..." Tenten quietly answered, raising her hand.

Tsunade stared at the 164 cm tall girl for a long, awkward moment before saying, "Oh... I see..."

Soon after, she had tightly wrapped Neji's ankle, much to his discontent because it hurt more than Tenten's bony elbow being jammed into his ribcage, where he was sure a second bruise had formed. The nurse then left the room to look for ice for Neji's ankle, since the ice machine in her office wasn't working for some reason. The two students really hoped she would return soon, because the silence was just too uncomfortable.

Five painstakingly long minutes had passed, and Neji couldn't take the silence anymore, so he said the first thing that came to mind.

"Thanks...for, you know..."

Completely shocked at hearing the word _"thanks"_ come from Neji's mouth, Tenten stared at the boy who was busy looking at a poster that described the proper hand-washing process. After a few moments, Tenten softly replied,

"...You're welcome."

The two students just sat there in the nurse's office, looking in opposite directions. The silence was still uncomfortable, but it was was slightly less terrible this time around.

* * *

**Oohh? Happy New Year! Thank you so much for supporting me throughout this story! I'm happy to say I reached 50 reviews (almost 60!), and I continue to thank you so much! Sad news is, I won't be able to update as much, because I have to return to school on Monday, and exams are this month. I had a ton of time to write these past chapters since I was on break the past two weeks.**

**And as a present, I have given you cutesy-but-kinda-fail-romance! :D I hope you all enjoyed this chapter~ I worked really hard on this one.**

**I give cupcakes to those who reviews and favorited!**

**Chaki~**


	13. Community Service

When Neji and Tenten returned to the gym, the bell for the next class had just rung. There were three reasons why they had taken such a long time. First, Tsunade took ten minutes searching for a working ice machine. Second, it took her an additional fifteen minutes to find a pair of crutches that were tall enough to accommodate Neji's height. And third, the return trip lasted around twenty minutes because Neji had never used crutches before, and he was having difficulty walking down the stairs _with_ the crutches, as he insisted that using the elevator was for losers.

After changing back into her school uniform, Tenten quickly slung her bag over her shoulder and headed to her next class. Halfway there, Tenten stopped in the middle of the hallway, gave a quiet sigh, and turned around.

When she arrived at the locker rooms, she saw Neji struggling to get out of the boy's locker room while holding his crutches at the same time. Part of Tenten just wanted to stand there and watch, but the nagging voice in her head said otherwise. Silently, Tenten held the door open for Neji, letting him actually make some progress.

Neji was surprised at the other's actions, but didn't show it and instead glared at the girl, hobbling past her. With a glare of her own, Tenten observed the boy as he kept pausing to adjust the falling schoolbag on his shoulder. She even noticed that his tie was poorly tied, making him look like a five-year old boy pretending to be a businessman. Silently sighing, Tenten took the bag away from Neji, putting it over her own shoulder, and began redoing the taller boy's tie.

Noticing how close she was to him, Neji stuttered, "W-What are you doing?"

"Fixing your tie," Tenten simply replied, and when she finished, she said to him, "Let's go."

Neji didn't ask what she was doing, because he knew she was helping him. He just didn't know why. However, he refrained from asking because he was afraid she'd say she was helping him out of pity.

Hyuga Neji didn't need pity. In fact, anyone who wasn't as great as him should be pitied-so went Neji's thoughts.

Slowly, the two made their way down the hall, refusing to look at each other. Neji was about to ascend the stairs when Tenten reached up and took hold of his ear, leading him to the elevator.

"H-Hey! That hurts! Let go..!" he whined, clumsily swatting at the other's hand on his ear, nearly dropping his left crutch. Tenten pressed the button to go to the second floor and patronized him,

"Do you honestly think you can walk up those stairs? It took you fifteen minutes just to go _down_ them!"

"So what?" Neji retorted. "The elevator is for losers. And I am _not_ a loser."

Tenten exasperatedly rolled her eyes and quickly shot back, "Look! We're already late for class, and you're not making it any better, so just use the elevator for ten seconds, so we don't end up missing an entire class!"

"I'm not going in there," Neji finalized, teetering away on his crutches.

"This guy..." Tenten muttered, clenching her fists to refrain from tackling the stubborn boy. After taking a deep breath and calming down, she glanced at him and loudly exclaimed,

"All right, then! I'll just keep your bag...and read you notes...and use your pencils...and rearrange all the contents...and find your wallet...and take your I.D. card...and borrow your cell phone..."

Immediately, Neji shuffled towards the elevator and grudgingly got inside. Smiling lightly, Tenten pressed the button to go upstairs, and the doors closed soon after. Just as Tenten said, the elevator ride only lasted ten seconds, and they were now making their way to their last class of the day. Tenten held the door open for Neji to enter and then went to explain to Kakashi, the math teacher, why they were late to class. Kakashi gave them a bored look, excused them, and went on with the lesson. As Tenten and Neji made their way to their desk, the whispers of the students were so clear and so obvious, they might as well have been shouting.

_"Did Neji break his leg?"_

_"Maybe he got into a fight with some upperclassmen!"_

_"I thought those two broke up..."_

_"Maybe they made up, and now they back together..!"_

Neji and Tenten's right eyes twitched at the last comment, desperately hoping that particular rumor wouldn't spread around the campus. Class went on as usual, but students would still sneak glances at two certain students in the back of the classroom. Finally, after what felt like forever, school had ended, and everyone was heading home. Tenten gathered her belongings, but she noticed Neji was having difficulty putting his schoolbag on his shoulder because of his crutches. Without considering the consequences, Tenten took the other's bag (again) and looked away, mumbling,

"Hurry up. I have to get home soon."

"Then go home," Neji bitterly replied. "You don't have to help me because you pity me."

"I don't pity you," Tenten shot back, but Neji didn't believe her.

"Oh, really? Then why else would you be doing all this?"

Tenten was silent for a moment, thinking about her answer carefully. She kept her gaze on the floor and replied,

"It's my fault that you hurt your ankle. And I'm sorry, okay? So just...let me do this until you get better...please?"

Neji could only stare at Tenten, wondering if she really had just asked something of him. Blinking once, he swore Tenten looked like she was embarrassed. Her cheeks were pink after all, and her lips were pressed into a thin line, almost making it look like she was pouting. Was this some kind of unintentional adorabe-ness? Well, it did seem a little cute...

Closing his eyes and literally shaking his head, Neji shook away those terrible thoughts, looked away from Tenten and said to her,

"Fine, whatever. Just don't embarrass me."

"Trust me. It's more embarrassing for me than it is for you," Tenten mumbled, but Neji heard her.

"No, it's more embarrassing for _me_."

Tenten gave a sarcastic laugh and countered, "Yeah? You think I want to be seen helping the boy I supposedly 'broke up' with earlier today?"

"And you think I want to be seen with a _girl_ holding my things for me?" Neji rhetorically asked, hobbling out of the classroom. Tenten raised an eyebrow at the other and walked next to him saying,

"You're a boy. Shouldn't you be flattered that a girl is helping you?"

"Not if it's _you_," Neji bluntly stated. In shock, Tenten stopped walking and stared at the other who kept on walking. After a moment, she quickly caught up to Neji (though it wasn't that hard) and yelled,

"You're a jerk, you know that?"

"So I've heard," Neji flatly replied, not even glancing at the furious girl beside him. With a fierce glare, Tenten asked him,

"What is your problem?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all," he replied nonchalantly.

Tenten was about to scream at him again, but instead took a deep breath and thought to herself, _'Don't let him get the best of you, Hua Tenten. Not this jerk.' _Immediately after, an ingenious plan formed in her head, and she mischievously smiled, musing,

"All right. Fine with me."

Neji gave a wary look at Tenten and slowly replied,

"Okay..."

"Let's go home now, okay?" Tenten hummed, putting on her sweetest smile.

Neji tore his gaze away from her because he suddenly felt his heartrate increase.

_"But why?"_ he wondered. It was because he knew Tenten had something planned. That was it.

Right..?

* * *

**Wow. I finally update. I mostly have time, because its a 4 day weekend for me, and exams are over.**

**Anyway... I could understand how some of you are disappointed in this chapter.**

**1) No other characters, for those who like them (like Sasuke or whatever..)**

**2) No new people**

**3) There wasn't a lot of cutesy-awkward romance.**

**Don't stop reading though! Surely, the next chapter will have lulz and stuff like that! Well, I'm now working on the next one! Let's get to it!**

**Chaki~**


	14. The Stubborn

**...I'm the world's worst updater. I actually finished this chapter last weekend, but I was too lazy to post it. **

**Onwards to chapter 14!**

* * *

For the next hour, Tenten accompanied Neji to his house patiently, her smile never leaving her face. When they arrived at Neji's house, Hinata answered the door and immediately began fussing over her older cousin, whose face was flushed with embarrassment the whole time.

"Stop it..." Neji mumbled, glancing at the smiling Tenten.

Hanabi finally came into the scene, realizing the girl was present, and she instantly hugged her tightly and exclaimed, "Tenten! Nii-san had been pretty stupid to hurt himself! Thank you, Tenten, for putting him in your care as he was about to die! Who knows what would've happened if you weren't around? What if Nii-san had to have his foot amputated?"

"Hanabi... It's just a sprain," Neji grumbled, embarrassed that his younger, loquacious cousin was talking about him in such a way in front of his classmate-no, his rival. Hanabi gave her cousin a pouty and sharp look and said monotonously,

"Yes, it's just a sprain now, but with your attitude, I bet you tried to use the stairs instead of the elevator. If Tenten hadn't helped you out of the kindness of her heart, your condition might have worsened to the point where the doctor would've had to cut your foot off!"

Hinata gasped. "Hanabi! There's no need to say such things!"

"Just leave me alone!" Neji protested, but his Hanabi kept talking to him as if he were still seven years old. Tenten giggled silently at the scene before her and took a mental note that Neji and his cousins looked slightly alike, but she also realized their personalities were completely different from eachother. Neji was uptight, cold, and just plain rude, Hinata was quiet, kind, affectionate, while Hanabi was a chatterbox who wouldn't cut slack for anyone. Tenten wondered for a moment that maybe Neji got his personality from his father. And then, she realized that she'd never actually seen Neji's father before, only his uncle. Even at the first dinner Hiashi invited her and her family to... it was questionable why Neji was with his uncle. Tenten would've pondered on the subject longer, Hinata piped up to the zoned-out girl and said,

"Thank you, Tenten-san, for helping Neji-nii-san."

"Nii-san! Say 'Thank-you!'"

"I already did," Neji mumbled, his ears pink with embarrassment.

"When?" Hanabi quickly countered, scrunching her eyebrows.

"Back at school, when she took me to the nurse," Neji whined. Tenten wouldn't have been surprised if he started stomping his feet and puffing out his cheeks to a little girl.

"Um, it would only be polite to properly thank her," Hinata responded. Neji sighed quietly and asked,

"Fine. Whatever you say," he rolled his eyes and just stood in the door way.

"C'mon Nii-san!" Hanabi put on a menacing smile. "Since you hurt your ankle, I'll run to your room, and smash your laptop!"

"You can't be serious!" Neji sputtered. Hanabi kept a serious look on her face and commanded,

"Like Nee-chan said, it's only polite."

"Thank you..." Neji murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. Having heard it clear as day, Tenten smiled and replied,

"You're welcome."

She bowed to the three and politely took her leave, but only after Hanabi had given her one last hug, and Hinata had waved her goodbye. With a smile on her face, Tenten walked to her house next door, knowing tomorrow would be a good day.

* * *

How did it come to this?

Why wasn't Neji informed that the end of the world was today?

All Neji wanted was to walk to school-by himself.

But no. No, the universe had other plans.

He was almost out the door when his mother had caught him and insisted that the chauffeur take him, but Neji politely refused. After a good three minutes of bickering with his nephew, Hiashi noticed Tenten heading out of her house and called out to her, asking that she walk with Neji to school. With a pleasant smile and a small bow, Tenten agreed to do so, much to Hanabi's delight.

So here he was now, walking to school-with Hua Tenten.

As they made their way down the hallway, the students began to murmur, not making much effort to hide the fact that they were staring. They even turned their heads as they two students passed by, and none of them bothered to give them much privacy.

_"They walked to school together. They're official!"_

_"I guess they're the on-and-off kind of couple."_

_"They're so cute together!"_

Only when Neji glared at every student in the vicinity did they finally turn around, but their whispering never wavered. Neji was about to yell at Tenten and blame her for whatever was going on, but stopped when Idate came stumbling into the classroom, rushing to his seat next to Tenten. Gasping for air, the red-faced boy explained,

"My alam clock...didn't go...off..."

Tenten laughed a little, but their conversation was cut short as Iruka strode into the room, calling roll. Homeroom proceeded as normal, save for the constant whispers of the student body, some of them even texting the news with their cell phones hidden under their desks. After homeroom, the students and teachers had a five-minute break to change classrooms if they had to, and after the second minute, Akiko had managed to make it to class from the opposite side of the building and immediately ran to Tenten.

"What is this crazy news I'm hearing?" Akiko frantically asked, panting heavily.

With an innocent look, Tenten asked, "Oh, you mean Karin? She dyed his hair blonde, right?"

"Actually, she dyed it pink, but that's not the news I was talking about!" Akiko whispered in a panicky tone.

"Then what is it?" Tenten asked with an innocent look.

"Don't act like you don't know! Everyone's saying you're dating again. You and...that guy," Akiko whispered the last part, glancing at her friend's cranky desk partner.

"We've never even dated once," Tenten calmly said. "Besides, just let them think what they want to think."

The other girl's mouth hung slightly open as she started at her friend in disbelief before whispering,

"Are you crazy? The whole school thinks you guys are together!"

Tenten just smiled and said to her, "That's okay."

Sensing a hint of mischief in Tenten's voice, Neji turned to ask her something, but before he could say one word, the bell rang, and Mr. Kwon, the history teacher, came into the room soon after, starting the day's lesson.

Throughout the lecture, Neji tried to concentrate, but Tenten's words kept surfacing, making him wonder why she was _letting _the rumours spread this time. In the middle of writing a word, his pen suddenly stopped working, and he realized it was out of ink. Quietly, Neji rummaged through his schoolbag, but found that he had no extra pens. He had pencils and highlighters, but using them on a pen-dominated paper was just _wrong_. Pencil and pen didn't belong on the same sheet of paper, and Neji firmly believed it should have been illegal to write with a highlighter. Noticing the other's dilemma, Tenten pulled out a pen from her own schoolbag and held it out to her desk partner, whispering,

"You can borrow it for today."

"Do I look like a charity case to you?" Neji harshly whispered back, looking at the _Monokuro Boo _pen in disgust.

"All right then..." Tenten said, slowly taking the pen back. "Don't blame me when you can't remember that in 1333, the Kamakura shogunate was overthrown in the Kemmu Restoration, which was led by Emperor Go-Daigo, and his followers, Ashikaga Takauji, Nitta Yoshisada, and Kusunoki Masashige."

For a long moment, Neji stared at the pen with a dangling charm of a cartoon pig. If he took it, he'd look like an idiot. What dignified man would _dare_ to use such a monstrosity? Not Neji. No, not him. He was beyond using such childish writing utensils. He was better than that.

* * *

"Give it to me," Neji muttered under his breath, snatching the pen from the smiling Tenten. Trying not to get distracted by the annoying pig charm that wouldn't stop swinging, Neji put all his efforts into concentrating on Ashikaga Takauji seizing political power in the Meromachi period.

And then, he heard something. It was subtle-so incredibly subtle, like the beating of a butterfly's wings...but Neji heard it.

Tenten's soft laughter.

* * *

**Finally. No more fillers. We can now get on with the arc. YAY.**

**The part about Karin, when I first read about her in the manga, I SWORE she was blonde or a brunette or something like that. Apparently not.**

**I don't know much about Japanese History, so I just threw in some things from Wikipedia. Fail for me!**

**Chaki~**


	15. Broke?

**FINALLY. I actually had this chapter done... two weeks ago, but I was "editing" it. Anyway, I started a new fanfic, Pure Sounds! Please, please, please read it! There's obviously NejiTen in it, but as of right now, Neji hasn't made his appearance, but Tenten certainly has. I don't exactly know when Neji will come, but I do know that their relationship will be different than this! Even Tenten's surname is different. But mostly, I put in a ton of SasuSaku right now... Please read and review it please!**

**On to the story!**

* * *

History and the next two classes were as normal as possible, what with the perpetual gossiping that came with the curious glances. And now that Neji was using Tenten's pen, it seemed to have thrown gas into the fire, "confirming" the ongoing rumours. He wanted to throw it away, feed it to a polar bear, or even drop it into a volcano-anything to cleanse him from his current state of embarrassment. But he wouldn't do it, because if he did that after taking it, that would only serve as a blow to his pride. So for now, Neji would use the Monokuro Boo pen with all the pride he had left.

When it was time for lunch, Neji clumsily stood up, took his bag, and began hobbling away on his crutches, mumbling to Tenten,

"Don't follow me."

Tenten rolled her eyes in annoyance and when her desk partner disappeared from sight, she excitedly turned to Idate and Akiko and suggested with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes,

"Hey, why don't we follow him?"

"Uh..." Idate gave her a wary look. "He just told you, very specifically, _not_ to follow him."

Tenten waved a nonchalant hand, rhetorically asking, "What's the worst he could do to us? He can't even walk properly with those crutches."

Still a little unsure, Akiko and Idate looked at each other and meekly shrugged. Soon after, they left the classroom with their lunches and asked a random student in the hallway where Neji had gone. They pointed to the left, saying he'd gone right at the second turn. The trio continued using this method until they came to a stop in front of the library. Tenten raised an eyebrow and said to no one in particular,

"So _this_ is where he always disappears to."

Carefully opening and closing the door, the three students silently stepped inside, and Akiko and Tenten stared in awe. There were two stories, and elevator in the back left corner, an escalator to their right, and further down was a grand staircase made of marble. The carpets were made of red velvet, and all of the librarians' computers were touch-screens. Every wall was lined with shelves replete with books, some of them tall enough so that students would have to use a ladder to reach the books up top. One wall was made of nothing but glass, as it was actually an enormous window that enabled the students to view the expansive football, baseball, and track fields. Topping it all off, an elegant chandelier adorned the ceiling, illuminating the entirety of the library.

"Why are you two just standing there..?" Idate nervously asked, looking at his two friends in worry.

"This is a library?" Akiko asked, motioning to everything around them. Idate nodded and whispered,

"Yeah, I had the same reaction when I first walked in. Haven't you two seen it before?"

Tenten and Akiko shook their heads, and the latter explained, "Even though I've been at this school for a year and a half now, I never really had a reason to come here."

Tenten snapped out of her daze when she spotted Neji on the second floor, sitting at a table next to the window-wall. Hurriedly, she started pulling the other two with her, but they stopped when they heard a voice call,

"Oh, Idate, is that you?"

Slowly, the trio turned toward the voice, and Idate sighed out of relief when he saw an young woman with long purple hair and a couple books in her hands.

"Ah, good afternoon, Yugao-sensei," Idate politely greeted the librarian, then introduced Tenten and Akiko, who bowed in respect to her. Yugao spotted the lunches in their hands and said to Idate,

"Idate, you know you can't eat in the library."

The boy put his hands together and pleaded, "Please, Yugao-sensei? We promise not to get anything on the floors or books, and we'll clean up when we're done!"

Yugao pursed her lips into a thin line before replying, "All right, all right. But if I find any food here, I'll find you and make you organize every single book in this library."

"Thank you, Yugao-sensei!" the three students chimed, bowing quickly, then scampered up the escalator beside them. Once at the second floor, the walked in a neat line with Tenten in the front and dashed between bookshelves, hoping not to be seen by a certain student. Making sure they were hidden behind a bookshelf, they saw "the target" reading a book about two meters away from their location.

Akiko squinted at the book's title and barely whispered,

"Is...Is that a book on the history of Calculus..?"

"Seems like it—Tenten! C-Come back!" Idate desperately called in as quiet a voice as possible, for Tenten had stepped out of their hiding spot and walked to the other boy.

With a calm smile, Tenten plopped herself into the seat across from Neji. Noticing the unwanted company, Neji didn't even look up as he coldly said,

"I told you not to follow me. Are you deaf?"

"Where's your lunch?" Tenten asked, ignoring the other's snarky remark. At this, Neji set his book down and glared at the girl before him, asking,

"What do you want?"

"Aren't you hungry?" Tenten continued to ignore him, and she opened her lunchbox to reveal a neatly-made dish of takoyaki with a side of yellow radishes. She also turned toward a particular bookshelf and quietly called,

"Akiko, Idate, you can come out now. Sit with us."

The two peered around the bookshelf, and fervently shook their heads before going back into hiding. Frowning a little, Tenten stood up and went to the two students and came back out soon after, pushing them towards the table and sat them down. Shrinking under Neji's fierce glare, Idate and Akiko scooted their chairs closer to Tenten, hoping they wouldn't get hit by the angry boy's crutches if he decided to use them. Shifting his gaze to Tenten, Neji muttered through clenched teeth,

"Why are you here?"

"To keep you company," Tenten simply replied and began mixing her noodles with her chopsticks. She encouraged the other two to eat as well, and after a few moments they complied, albeit reluctantly. Neji mumbled something incoherent under his breath, but there was a soft rumble from his stomach as soon as he saw the dumplings Tenten had pulled out from somewhere in her schoolbag. It was a quiet sound, but because they were in a library, it sounded more like a lion's roar amplified with a bullhorn. Avoiding the other three's gazes, Neji averted his attention to the book he had been reading, but he couldn't focus, as he was fully aware of the smile Tenten had on her face.

Quietly, she asked him, "Are you hungry?"

"No," Neji quickly answered, but Tenten wasn't fooled by the tough look he put on. However, she pretended to be convinced as she shrugged and turned to Akiko, asking,

"What are you eating, Akiko?"

"Yakiniku…" Akiko whispered, remembering they were still in the library.

"That smells really good! Where did you get the vegetables?"

"I got them from my grandparents' farm back in Hokkaido. They grow everything there themselves," Akiko replied.

"Wow! Home-grown is the best, huh?" Tenten commented in an exaggerated voice, glancing at Neji, then turned to Idate and asked what he was eating as well. As the two went into every detail about how teriyaki was made, Neji tried his hardest to ignore them-but to no avail. Soon, the sample Calculus problem in front of him became a cookbook replete with high quality images of delicious dishes.

Neji was hungry.

He knew that, and all he wanted was to take all of the food before him and devour every bit, but he instead focused on Calculus-the empty, unsatisfying, meatless subject of Calculus. About ten minutes had passed when Idate, Akiko, and Tenten began to pack their things, and-unfortunately-their lunches as well, Neji noticed. The trio stood up, ready to leave, but right before they did, Tenten walked up to to Neji and placed a plastic container in front of him. Neji eyed the tupperware warily, half-expecting a river monster to spring out from it. But there didn't seem to be anything abnormal about it, so Neji just raised an eyebrow, never taking his eyes of the plastic container. Tenten set a pair of unopened chopsticks on top of the container and softly said,

"If you're hungry, you have about ten minutes until the next bell rings. And don't worry. It's not poisoned."

Right before she turned to leave, Neji glanced up at Tenten and saw her smiling, but it didn't look like her usual smiles when she was annoying him to no end. It looked more like the smile she gave him when he had given her a present for Christmas. The very thought of remembering the event made Neji's face grow hot, so he distracted himself by cautiously opening the container, waiting for a balloon filled with paint to explode in his face. Instead, Neji was greeted with the sweet aroma of food. Inside were some vegetables from Akiko's yakiniku, a couple pieces of teriyaki from Idate's lunch, some takoyaki in the corner and a generous amount of radishes in the center, both of which were from Tenten's lunch. For a short moment, Neji felt like something was tugging at his heart, but the impatient growling of his stomach overpowered the previous emotion, and he tore the paper wrapping off the chopsticks and began stuffing his mouth with food.

* * *

The rest of class went on quietly; Neji and Tenten didn't talk to each other, but they still tried to complete quizzes the quickest. Because Neji was injured, though, he was never able to beat Tenten to the teacher's desk. Whenever they changed classrooms, Tenten would carry Neji's things and walk with him to the next class, making sure they used the elevator when needed, and despite all that, Tenten didn't seem bothered by the rumors.

To say she was completely unafftected by them, though, would've been an understatement, because she did get a little annoyed by the fact that all the wealthy students seemed to have had nothing better to do than gossip. Initially, Tenten wanted everyone to go ahead and believe that she and Neji were dating, but it soon got boring for her, so it was after lunch that she decided to get rid of her "Call Neji 'Itoshi'" plan. (1) And because it wasn't much fun at all anymore, Tenten abandoned the whole mission itself. Besides, Neji had been through enough, _and_ he was in crutches and his ankle in a cast. He didn't need a bunch of empty rumors weighing him down.

At the end of the day, Tenten figured it was time to put a stop to the gossiping. Taking all of Neji's belongings and stuffing them hastily into his schoolbag, Tenten dragged the boy to the front of the classroom, ignoring his nagging, and announced,

"Can I have everyone's attention?"

Curious, the students all looked at Tenten and eagerly awaited her news. Uneasy at all of the eyes suddenly on him, Neji lowly whispered to the Tenten,

"What are you doing?"

"Just wait," Tenten whispered back, then said aloud to everyone, "Neji-sshi and I...are not dating."

A girl in the back of the classroom raised her hand, and Tenten quickly said,

"No, we're not engaged."

The girl put her hand down.

"And no, we're not going to run away to elope," Tenten added, glaring at a group of boys to her left. "We're just friends."

A few moments of awkward silence passed, and then Tenten stated,

"That is all."

Without another word, she pulled Neji out the door by his jacket sleeve, making her silent exit. The students still in the room turned to their friends and started talking again. One girl in a group of five said,

"That's too bad... They looked like such a cute couple."

"I know, right?" her friend replied, and the five of them squealed, whipping out their cell phones to spread the revelation.

Outside, Neji and Tenten made their way home, as Hiashi had restricted his nephew from Student Council duties until he had fully recovered. Exiting the school gates, Neji looked at Tenten and exclaimed,

"What was that? You just went up there and told everyone we weren't dating! When I suggested that the _last_ time everyone thought we were dating, you said no one would believe it!"

"Well, at least I _did _something about it!" Tenten argued back, only making Neji angrier.

"Yeah, you did _something_ about it, all right. But now, thanks to you, everyone thinks we're friends!"

"What's wrong with being friends?" Tenten yelled at him. "I think it'll do you a little good to have at least one friend."

"I don't need friends. How do you think I've survived my whole life?" Neji rhetorically asked her.

"Yeah, I've wondered about that," Tenten harshly stated. "I bet you've never even had one friend in your entire life."

"So? Who cares?" Neji asked indifferently. Tenten abruptly stopped walking and whipped around to face Neji, making him stop as well, nearly running into her. Quietly, she asked,

"You really don't know how great friends are, do you?"

With a bitter laugh, she continued, "Of course, you don't. Why am I even asking you that? You don't need friends because your life is just so perfect."

A few moments of silence passed between them; the only sound to be heard was the rustling of the tree branches as the winter wind rushed by. Neji didn't know what to feel, but he was sure that the concept of "friends" was a touchy subject for the girl in front of him. They stood in silence, staring each other down, neither one daring to look away. After about a minute longer, Tenten shoved Neji's schoolbag into his chest and whispered,

"You can go home by yourself."

As she started to walk away, Neji regained his senses, noticing a patch of ice where the girl was headed and called out, "Hey, watch out for-!"

But it was too late. Tenten slipped on the ice and plummeted to the ground, an ominous _"crack"_ heard as her arm slammed against the ice. Neji grimaced a little at the sound, then tentatively approached the other, having half a mind to at least check on her. Tenten gingerly touched her left arm with her right and winched a little.

"It hurts..." she whispered, but Neji rolled his eyes, thinking she was just acting.

"Oh, please, it's nothing."

"No, I...I think it's broken. It really hurts..." Tenten whimpered, and when Neji looked at her, she was on the verge of tears. With a deep sigh, Neji looked up at the sky, wondering why he was now stuck with a crying girl with a possibly-broken arm. After a deep breath, Neji held his two crutches under his right arm and bent over, taking Tenten good arm, and helped her to her feet. Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, Neji dialed a number and began to speak,

"Driver? It's me, Neji. I need you to pick me up outside the school. Just do it. And...don't tell my family. Especially Hanabi."

He quickly hung up and glanced at the girl beside him, who was still crying. A little embarrassed, Neji tried to placate her by saying,

"Hey, stop crying. You look ridiculous."

He didn't think it would work, but her tears eventually stopped falling and her sniffling quieted down. Relaxed at this, Neji said, more politely this time, "My driver will take us to the hospital, so don't cry anymore."

Tenten wiped her tears with her good arm and looked at Neji, who was looking away. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off when a black Mercedes-Benz pulled up in front of them, and Neji opened the door for her to get inside.

* * *

The car ride back from the hospital was deafeningly silent; even Driver Kim could feel the awkward tension in the air, and he wasn't even involved in the two teenagers' quarrel. Reaching Tenten's house, Neji stepped out of the car to walk her to the door. When Tenten didn't open the door, Neji reached out to ring the doorbell, but Tenten stopped him by saying ever-so-softly,

"Thank you..."

Slowly, he looked at the girl beside him, wondering if she had really just thanked him. She continuted,

"Thank you for taking me to the hospital. Also, I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier. I shouldn't have done that... And about the hospital bill..."

"That's right," Neji interjected. "I should make you pay me back for that. But I don't need money, so...I'll accept payment in food."

Surprised and puzzled, Tenten looked up at Neji, who was looking at a leaf on the ground, the blush on his cheeks barely visible in the setting sun. Smiling a little, Tenten nodded her head in agreement. Neji then added,

"Lunch. Every day for two months. Except weekends-I'm busy then."

Tenten's smile widened as she nodded again, and Neji coughed awkwardly, mumbling,

"Okay, then. I'll be going now."

Tenten watched him leave, how he slightly hopped because he had left his crutches in the car. She then smiled as she looked at the orange cast on her left arm, and opened the gate to her house to enter, getting ready to explain to her parents why she had broken her first bone.

* * *

**I'm a bad updater, aren't I?**

**(1) Itoshi = Darling, Lover, etc.**

**I don't feel like typing much today, so I'm just going to leave it at this, because I'm going to watch Gnomeo and Juliet and I Am Number Four Today. Tune in next time!**

**Chaki~**


	16. Foreign Boy

A month and a half had passed quickly, and the days were relatively normal. The students of Konoha Private High didn't start any rumours when Tenten brought lunch for Neji every day-they knew the two were just friends. At lunch hour, Neji always criticized how "sloppy and inedible" Tenten's cooking looked, but he ate it all anyway. When he finished eating, he would quickly leave to the library without thanking the girl who made the meal for him. Why should he have to say "thank you" for something he deserved?

Tenten and Neji were just like always-competing to turn in their assignments before the other and bickering over the smallest things. And though Tenten still had to wear a cast on her arm, Neji's ankle had completely healed, and so they would race to the school every morning and sometimes got there so early that they had to wait for the school's security guard to open the gates. The days that passed were normal days.

It was a Wednesday now, and all the students had blasé expressions on their faces, as no one really liked the middle of the week. Even Neji and Tenten seemed slightly less-than-happy to be in school that day. However, the monotony of the morning dissolved when Akiko ran to Tenten's desk and excitedly whispered,

"I have amazing news!"

"Did someone dye their hair again?" Tenten asked, laughing a little.

"Actually, Suigetsu did dye his hair white..." Akiko absentmindedly stated, looking up at the ceiling in thought. Tenten replied,

"Wasn't it a different color too long ago?"

"Well, yeah, but you know that guy," Akiko joked, but then she suddenly became serious. "That's not the news, though. There's a transfer student coming in today!"

At this, Neji glanced at the two girls beside him and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

_"Why are there so many transfer students this year?"_ he bitterly thought, then returned to reading his History textbook.

"He's a senior, though, so I don't think we'll get to see him much," Akiko said, pouting a little.

At that moment, there appeared in the doorway a tall boy, his skin evidently tanned from the sun-which was odd because Konoha hadn't received much sun that winter. He asked aloud,

"Is there a 'Hua Tenten' here?"

But before anyone could respond, the boy made eye contact with the said girl and smiled brightly, showing off his perfect teeth. He quickly stepped inside and practically sprinted to Tenten, picking her up and hugging her tightly, exclaiming,

"Tenten-mei, I've missed you so much!" (1)

The entire class watched in silence with wide eyes and slightly-open mouths as the nameless boy spun around with Tenten in his arms before setting her down. He placed his hands on her thin shoulders as he asked,

"You haven't forgotten me, have you?"

Finally getting a good look at the boy's face, Tenten gasped in recognition,

"Shan-ge! Are you going to school here?" (2)

Taken aback, Neji (along with the rest of the class) stared at the two, wanting to hear their story. The tall boy nodded fervently and quickly replied,

"I asked my parents if I could live with my aunt and uncle here in Konoha so that I could attend this school, and they said I could!"

"But... Renxiong, why did you want to change schools? What about all you're other friends?" Tenten asked in concern, though she was unable to stop smiling. The boy laughed and looked at her with gentle eyes. Tenten turned to Akiko and explained. "Renxiong means older friend or brother." (3)

"I just missed you that much."

Tenten's smile softened as she tightly hugged Shan around the waist. When she pulled back, she looked up at him and said, "You should get to class before the bell rings. Let's have lunch together, okay?"

"Of course. We have a lot to catch up on. I'll see you later, Tenten-mei," Shan replied, patting the girl's head softly, and left the classroom, giving her one last wave. Eyes still wide in shock, Akiko turned to Tenten and urgently asked,

"Who was that?"

"He's my-"

"All right, everyone. Class is starting. Get in your seats," Iruka announced, unintentionally cutting Tenten's explanation short.

"I'll tell you at lunch," Tenten whispered to Akiko, still smiling from the recent event. Reluctantly, Akiko retreated to her own desk, narrowly dodging a running Idate who had arrived late. A few whispers were exchanged between students as attendance was called, but no one started rumors because they didn't know anything about the new student. The first hours of the day took an excruciatingly long time to pass; the clock tantalized the students with its seemingly perpetual ticking. When lunch hour _finally _arrived, everyone sighed in relief and went off to eat with their friends. Akiko hurriedly pulled a chair over between Tenten and Idate and immediately began shooting questions at her.

"What's his full name? How do you know each other? Exactly how tall is he? Does he have a girlfriend? Are _you_ his girlfriend?"

"Akiko, calm down! I'll explain everything when he gets here," Tenten said, then took a lunchbox out of her schoolbag, handing it to Neji on her right. Smiling, she said to him, "I hope you like it. It's a new recipe I learned this past weekend."

Neji said nothing in response and took the food, wordlessly putting it in his mouth. Tenten's cooking was always good-there was no doubt about that. Maybe even better than the meals the chefs at his house prepared. But today, he didn't taste the food. Well, he did, and it was delicious as always, but it wasn't exactly the same. The image of the new student's face flashed in Neji's mind, and all the food suddenly turned tasteless. He finished it all, nonetheless, and took out his Korean-English dictionary. Tenten tilted her head a little at him and asked,

"Are you not going to the library?"

"Does it matter to you where I choose to study?" he coldly replied, his eyes focused on the book before him. Tenten glared at her desk partner briefly before catching sight of a familiar boy in the doorway. She waved to him and called,

"Renxiong, over here!"

Neji's eyebrow twitched at the word "Renxiong," and he looked up from his dictionary to the new student, who was grinning and making his way to Tenten.

_"Does this guy ever stop smiling?"_ he bitterly thought, sending a glare towards Shan.

Shan pulled a seat up next to Tenten, still beaming brightly; Tenten was smiling just as happily as she took charge of the introductions.

"Shan-ge, these are my friends, Akiko and Idate. Guys, this is Lung Shan. He was my senior at my old elementary school back in Shanghai We've been friends since the third grade."

"It's nice to meet you all," Shan politely said, bowing a little to the other two. Akiko and Idate shyly nodded their heads in response, feeling somewhat at ease by Shan's friendly smile and the charismatic aura he gave off. Off to the side, Neji was glaring holes into his dictionary as he heatedly thought to himself,

_"Tch... Foreign boy."_

"Hang on a second..." Akiko faced Tenten, continuing, "Have you lived in Japan before? You speak Japanese very well…"

"Before middle school, he moved to Hokkaido, so I didn't see him as much anymore," Tenten answered. Akiko then asked,

"Really? What company do your parents own? Or did they get a promotion or something?"

"Oh... About that..." Tenten quietly started, shifting nervously, then cautiously went on,

"I'm a scholarship student."

Akiko blankly stared at her friend in silence before flatly asking, "Our school does that sort of thing..?"

Tenten nodded slightly, and Idate spoke up for the first time that day.

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that. It's really hard to get into this school by scholarship, though. The tests are crazy hard! Wow, Tenten, you really are a genius!"

Tenten laughed quietly and modestly shook her head; Shan was watching her with kind eyes the whole time.

"Sempai, how did _you_ get accepted into Konoha?" Akiko inquired, looking up at the taller boy. Shan looked away from Tenten and replied,

"Oh, I got a scholarship for my Judo skills, but I also took the academic exams to make sure I was accepted. I'm no Tenten-mei, though. I barely passed."

"You must be really good at Hapkido then!" Akiko complimented, smiling at the other. Tenten added,

"It's true! He's in the top ten in the whole Republic of China!"

"Really? That's so cool!" Akiko exclaimed, to which Shan smiled pleasantly and replied,

"Thank you, Akiko-mei."

Akiko looked down to hide her blushing face, and she nervously brushed her hair behind her ear. Idate saw this and looked down as well, swallowing the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat.

"Renxiong, did you get your teeth straightened?" Tenten asked, making Shan laugh nervously, revealing his gleaming set of teeth as he answered,

"I decided to fix them after you left..."

"And you've gotten a lot taller since I last saw you. How tall are you now?" Tenten continued, amazed at how much had changed in the last few months.

"Last time I checked, I was 171 cm tall," Shan replied.

"So tall!" Tenten and Akiko exclaimed at the same time, making Neji roll his eyes in vexation. Sourly, he thought to himself,

_"Whatever. I'm 172 cm tall."_

"Oh, Renxiong, where's your lunch?" Tenten asked in concern. Shan laughed nervously (again) and replied,

"Ah, I guess I forgot it in the classroom because I was so excited to see you again. I'll go get it..."

"No, that's okay, Renxiong. Here, just have half of mine," Tenten suggested, pushing her lunch in between Shan and herself. Shan chuckled and murmured,

"Just like old times."

"Renxiong... You make it sound like we haven't seen each other in years," Tenten commented.

"That's how it felt though..." Shan said honestly, to which Tenten responded with and _"Awh!"_ and a small hug.

When lunch was over and Shan had finally left, Neji sighed in relief, glad that he wouldn't be hearing Tenten constantly calling _"_ Renxiong_! _Renxiong_!" _for a while. The rest of that Wednesday was a little livlier, compared to the dull morning it had started off as. Shan had become quite popular among the entire student body, much to Tenten's relief, as she had been worried that people would have teased him for his country accent. After school, in the Student Council room, Neji and Tenten were organizing the hotel arrangements for the trip to Europe when a familiar person stepped inside.

"Ah, so this is where you are."

Tenten looked up from the papers on her desk, and her face instantly lit up when she saw Shan standing in the doorway.

"Renxiong, what are you doing here?"

"Just checking up on you," Shan replied, smiling lightly. It was then when he noticed Neji sitting at the front of the room, and so he walked up to him and politely held out his hand, introducing himself,

"Hi, I'm Lung Shan."

Neji stared at the other's hand with cold eyes, and then glanced at Shan's smiling face, mumbling,

"Hyuga Neji."

Shan's hand was left hanging in the air, so he awkwardly put it down to his side, feeling a little embarrassed. Hoping to lighten the atmosphere, he cleared his throat and asked Tenten,

"So is this all of the Student Coucil? Just you two..?"

"Yeah, just me and Neji. Hey, would you like to join? We can use any help we can get," Tenten said hopefully. Neji glared at the back of Shan's head, silently hoping he'd say he couldn't.

"Sorry, Tenten-mei... I just told the Judo guys I'd join their after-school club. I'm really sorry..." Shan apologized, giving his friend a contrite look. Tenten was a bit disappointed, but she smiled and said,

"That's okay, Renxiong. Judo is what keeps you in this school, so it's fine."

"I'm sorry... But, hey, when does this meeting end?"

"In maybe an hour and a half," Tenten replied. Shan grinned, once again showing off his perfect teeth, and said,

"That's great! Judo club ends at the same time. Let's meet up aftewards, okay?"

"Sure!" Tenten enthusiastically agreed.

"I'll see you later, then," Shan said, giving Tenten a small hug, and waved to her as he left the room. When he was gone, Tenten sighed happily and went back to work, her content smile decorating her face. As she hummed an arbitrary tune to herself, Neji glared at her in irritation. He didn't like this "Jung Shan" and how he never stopped smiling. He didn't like how informally the two childhood friends spoke to each other, and he definitely hated how much skinship they were exhibiting. It annoyed him to no end.

He hated it all, but he couldn't come up with a clear explanation for the contempt he was feeling.

And that-more than anything-bothered him the most.

* * *

**(1) -ge: A Chinese suffix for elder male friend**

**(2) -mei: A Chinese suffix for younger female friend**

**(3) ... I could be wrong. I went to Wikipedia for all of this. Correct me if I'm wrong...**

**Anyway! OCs, OCs, OCs. I couldn't find anybody in the actual Naruto series to fit the part...**

**I started a new fic that doesn't seem to grab attention here on . I'm pretty sure there are silent readers, but oh well. It's called Pure Sounds, and there is NejiTen in it, and Neji and Tenten have different personalities and relationship (at least not YET). I'll post a link of a pic of them together on my profile.**

**Look forward to more chapters!**

**~Chaki**


	17. You Wish

An hour and a half had passed, and Neji and Tenten were finalizing the trip plans when a soft knock on the door was heard. When Neji looked up, he wasn't surprised to see Shan's face there, but Tenten was. Seeing that ostentatious smile on that guy's face always surprised her, which Neji found annoying because he had gotten tired of Shan's face just ten seconds after first seeing the guy.

"Renxiong!" Tenten squealed, running over to Shan and into his arms. Shan hugged her quickly and then released her, petting her head like she was a puppy. He smiled his blindingly bright smile and asked Tenten,

"Are you ready to leave?"

"Yep!" Tenten happily replied, making Shan chuckle softly. The former's smile dropped a little as she added, "But I forgot my math notebook back in the classroom. I'll be right back!"

"All right," Shan consented, letting Tenten run off. When her footsteps couldn't be heard any longer, Shan slowly made his way across the room and asked aloud,

"So...'Screw,' was it?"

Glaring at the paper in front of him, Neji's eyebrow twitched slightly as he replied, "Neji. My name is 'Neji.'"

"Right, right..." Shan murmured, scanning the papers spread across the desk Neji was sitting at. After an uncomfortable silence, Shan asked,

"Are you jealous?"

Taken aback, Neji looked up at the other, wondering why he had asked such a random question. Blinking in confusion, Neji asked,

"What would I be jealous of?"

Shan chuckled a little and put his hands in his pockets, a haughty smirk on his face. With an arrogant look in his eyes, he answered,

"Me, of course."

Neji stared at the confident boy before him-or glared. There wasn't much of a difference either way because Neji was nonetheless getting annoyed. Keeping his composure, Neji stated,

"No offense, Shan-san, but I don't see anything about you to be jealous of."

"Figures you'd think that way," Shan commented, laughing a little. "You're just so convinced that you're amazing in every way that you can't be man enough to admit that I'm better than you."

"Excuse me?" was all Neji could say in his state of confusion. Shan tilted his head a little in amusement and patronized,

"Admit it. I'm better than you. I mean, yeah, you've got good grades, but no one likes you. Not even the teachers. Everyone just stays off your case because your dad owns some big shot company. But me? Everyone loves me. Everyone wants to be my friend. Have you ever had a friend before, Neji-san? I don't think you h-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Neji had gotten up and thrown his fist into Shan's face. Falling against a desk, Shan wiped his bottom lip to find it had busted open. He glanced over at Neji's tighly clenched fist, which had some of his blood on it, and then at Neji's face, red with anger. Shan laughed a little despite the searing pain in his face and remarked,

"You really are something, Neji-san."

"Don't you dare talk down to me," Neji said through gritted teeth as he glared at the other. It was bad enough he was all sugar candyhearts and overly friendly, but now he was all that _and_ a two-faced jerk? At least Neji didn't hide who he was. But this guy-this Jung Shan-was lying to everyone he met.

"You know..." Shan started, still smirking, "I bet the only reason Tenten hangs around you is because she pities you. She's stupid like that, you know."

That was it.

Neji swung his fist at Shan's jaw, releasing all his anger. A hollow crack resounded throughout the empty classroom as Shan fell to the ground, unconscious. Whether it was his fist or Shan's jaw that had broken didn't matter to Neji. He was angry. He was fed up.

At that moment, Tenten returned to the classroom and, upon seeing the unconscious Shan, asked,

"W-What's going on..?"

Neji looked at the girl through the corner of his eye and mumbled lowly,

"How well do you really know him? Did you know he's not what you think he is? That he's an arrogant, lying jerk who has probably never cared about you?"

Tenten glanced at Shan's unmoving body and back to Neji before quietly asking,

"Is the true..?"

"...Yeah," Neji whispered, almost inaudibly. Tenten dropped her math notebook and ran over to Neji, hugged his arm, and exclaimed,

"Thank you for saving me from that awful guy! You're so cool, Neji! You're the best Neji!"

"I know," Neji agreed, smiling brightly. Tenten continued chanting,

"Neji! Neji!"

Finally, he had won. No one was better than him now. No one would dare mess with Hyuga Neji.

_"Neji! Neji!"_

"H-Huh..?" Neji woke up from his daydream. In front of him stood a worried-looking Tenten, who cautiously asked,

"Are you okay?"

"What? What do you want?" Neji snapped at her. He didn't mean to, but he was feeling incredibly angry at that moment...for some reason. Tenten clicked her tongue before answering,

"I finished my half of the paperwork, so I'm going home with Shan-ge."

She pointed to the doorway, and-sure enough-Shan was there, grinning like always. Neji glared at the other boy before turning to his unfinished half of the work and mumbling,

"I don't care. Go."

Tenten looked at Neji for a while as if she wanted to say something, but she decided against it and quietly walked away. Right as the two childhood friends were about to leave, Tenten paused and sighed,

"Argh, I left my math notebook in the classroom..."

Neji furrowed his eyebrows, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu. Absentmindedly, he listened in on the other two's conversation.

"Oh, really?" Shan asked. "I'll go with you."

"You don't have to, Renxiong. You must be tired from Judo," Tenten said, concern evident in her voice.

"It's all right," Shan assured, smiling kindly.

"...Fine," Tenten reluctantly consented, and the two left the Student Council room. When their footsteps were no longer audible, Neji set his pen down and dropped his head on the desk, letting out a long, tired sigh. What was he expecting? That his daydream would become reality?

Neji released another sigh before whispering,

"Are you going crazy...Hyuga Neji?"

* * *

**Short short short!**

**I'm pretty tired, once again, but I hope you've enjoyed this chapter!**

**Chaki~**


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